Point Of View — 3–5 Reading & Writing | Scholars & Parents

What Is This?

Point of view (POV) is the perspective from which a story is told. It determines who is narrating the story, how much the narrator knows, and what information the reader has access to. The narrator is the voice telling the story — and that voice shapes everything the reader experiences, believes, and feels. Changing the point of view of a story changes the story itself.

Why Does It Matter?

Point of view is one of the most powerful tools an author has. It controls what readers know, what they feel, and whose side they are on. A story told from the perspective of a villain can make the reader sympathise with someone they would otherwise oppose. A story told in first person creates intimacy; one told in third person omniscient allows the reader to see across multiple characters and locations. Recognising the point of view in a text helps you understand why an author made certain choices and what information might be missing or biased.

The Four Main Points of View

1. First Person

In first person, the narrator is a character in the story and tells it using the pronouns I, me, my, we, our.

The narrator can only tell us:

What they personally see, hear, feel, and experience
Their own thoughts and feelings
What other characters say and do in their presence

The narrator CANNOT tell us:

What other characters are thinking or feeling
Events that happen when the narrator is not present

Example: "I watched the door nervously, wondering if anyone had noticed what I had done. My hands were still shaking. I could not look at the teacher."

Advantages of first person:

Creates intimacy — the reader is inside the narrator's head
Feels personal, immediate, and emotionally close
Works well for confessional, unreliable, or emotionally intense stories

Disadvantage:

Limited — the reader only knows what the narrator knows
The narrator can be unreliable (wrong about events or deliberately misleading)

Famous examples: Diary of a Wimpy Kid (Greg's diary voice), Wonder (told from Auggie's perspective)

2. Second Person

In second person, the narrator addresses the reader directly using the pronoun you. This is rare in fiction but common in instructional writing, choose-your-own-adventure books, and some literary fiction.

Example: "You step off the train and immediately feel that something is wrong. The platform is empty. You check your watch — the last train left an hour ago."

Where you commonly see second person:

Choose-your-own-adventure stories
Instructions and directions
Some video game narratives
Occasional literary fiction for effect

3. Third Person Limited

In third person limited, the narrator is outside the story (not a character) and uses the pronouns he, she, they, it. The narrator follows one character closely and has access only to that one character's thoughts and feelings.

Example: "Zara felt her stomach drop as she read the email. She read it twice, then a third time, hoping the words would somehow change. They did not."

Key features:

Pronouns: he, she, they (not I or you)
Access to one character's inner thoughts only
Can only report what that character experiences
The most common point of view in middle-grade and YA fiction

Advantages:

Close emotional access to one character
Can build suspense because the reader knows only what the character knows
Feels more objective than first person while still being emotionally connected

4. Third Person Omniscient

In third person omniscient, the narrator is an all-knowing narrator outside the story. The narrator can see into the thoughts and feelings of multiple characters and can report on events happening in different locations simultaneously.

Omniscient means "all-knowing."

Example: "As Zara read the email with growing dread, Marcus was already on his way to her door, rehearsing what he would say. He did not know that she already knew. Neither of them knew that the real problem had not even begun yet."

Key features:

Pronouns: he, she, they
Can enter any character's mind
Can describe events in multiple locations
Narrator can comment on events from a distance

Advantages:

Gives readers a "god's eye view" of the whole story
Can create dramatic irony (reader knows more than characters)
Works well for complex stories with many characters or subplots

Disadvantage:

Can feel less emotionally close to any single character
Requires careful handling to avoid confusion

How to Identify the Point of View

Ask yourself these questions:

Step 1: Who is telling the story?

A character in the story → First person (look for I, me, my)
The reader → Second person (look for you, your)
An outside narrator → Third person (look for he, she, they)

Step 2 (if third person): How much does the narrator know?

Only one character's thoughts → Third person limited
Multiple characters' thoughts and distant events → Third person omniscient

Point of View and Reliability

Not every narrator tells the truth — or the whole truth.

An unreliable narrator is a narrator who cannot be fully trusted. They may:

Be too young to understand what is happening
Be biased about certain characters or events
Be deliberately hiding information from the reader
Misremember or misinterpret events

First person narrators are most commonly unreliable because they are inside the story with limited perspective and personal bias. Third person omniscient narrators are generally more reliable because they see everything.

Example of unreliable narration: "I was just trying to help. I do not know why everyone was so upset with me."

The reader might sense, from other clues, that the narrator caused more harm than they admit.

How Point of View Affects the Reader

Point of View	What it creates
First person	Intimacy, personal voice, possible unreliability
Second person	Direct involvement, immersion, unusual effect
Third person limited	Emotional closeness to one character, suspense
Third person omniscient	Wide perspective, dramatic irony, complexity

Common Mistakes

Mistake 1: Confusing the narrator with the author

The narrator is a voice created by the author — not the author themselves. When a story is told in first person, the "I" is a fictional character, not the author, unless the text is explicitly autobiographical.

Mistake 2: Confusing third person limited with omniscient

Third person limited follows one character's perspective only. If the narrator can enter multiple characters' minds, it is omniscient. The pronoun (he/she/they) is the same in both — the difference is in how much the narrator knows.

Mistake 3: Thinking POV only means "who tells the story"

Point of view also includes what the narrator knows, what they reveal, what they hide, and whether they are reliable. Two stories in first person can have very different effects depending on who that narrator is and how trustworthy they are.

Key Takeaways

Point of view determines who narrates the story and how much they know
First person: narrator is a character; uses I/me/my; limited to personal experience
Second person: narrator addresses the reader as "you"; rare in fiction
Third person limited: outside narrator; follows one character's thoughts only
Third person omniscient: all-knowing outside narrator; can enter any character's mind
To identify POV: check pronouns first, then check how much the narrator knows
An unreliable narrator cannot be fully trusted — first person narrators are most commonly unreliable
Point of view is a deliberate authorial choice that shapes what the reader knows and feels

Practice and Resources

Ready to practise? Try our Grade 3-5 Point of View Worksheet with passage identification, comparative analysis, and writing exercises. Test yourself with the Grade 3-5 Reading and Writing Practice Test.