Name: ___________________________
Point of View: Who Is Telling the Story?
The narrator tells what happens in a story. Sometimes it is a character in the story, or sometimes it is
someone else who does not take part in the story. There are two main types of narrators: first person and
third person.
In third person narrations, the narrator is not
In first person narrations, the narrator is
a main character and uses she, he, they or it. The
usually a main character and uses I and me.
words I and me are only used in conversations.
Below are some passages from books. Read them and write what type of narration it is: first
person or third person. The briefly explain your reasons.
1. My father had a small estate in Nottinghamshire: I was the third of five sons.
1st person point of view
He sent me to Emanuel College in Cambridge at fourteen years old, where I
resided three years, and applied myself close to my studies...
(Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift)
2. Mr. Sherlock Holmes, who was usually very late in the mornings, save upon 3rd person
those not infrequent occasions when he was up all night, was seated at the
breakfast table. I stood upon the hearth-rug and picked up the stick which our
visitor had left behind him the night before.
(The Hound of the Baskervilles by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
3. Mary asked no more questions but waited in the darkness of her corner,
keeping her eyes on the window. The carriage lamps cast rays of light a little
distance ahead of them and she caught glimpses of the things they passed.
(The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett)
4. Phileas Fogg was seated squarely in his armchair, his feet close together like
those of a grenadier on parade, his hands resting on his knees, his body straight,
his head erect; he was steadily watching a complicated clock which indicated the
hours, the minutes, the seconds, the days, the months, and the years.
(Around the World in Eighty Days by Jules Verne)
5. At first I hated the school, but by and by I got so I could stand it. Whenever
I got uncommon tired I played hookey, and the hiding I got next day done me
good and cheered me up. So the longer I went to school the easier it got to be.
(The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain)
6. Poor Jo would gladly have gone under the table, as one thing after another
was tasted and left; while Amy giggled, Meg looked distressed, Miss Crocker
pursed up her lips, and Laurie talked and laughed with all his might, to give a
cheerful tone to the festive scene.
(Little Women by Louisa May Alcott)
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