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Secondary 1 English · Narrative point of view

Name: ______________________

Date: ____________

1. 'Tom wondered why the room had gone quiet. His stomach tightened as he turned slowly around.' Which point of view is this?
- ☐ (a) First person
- ☐ (b) Second person
- ☐ (c) Third-person limited
- ☐ (d) Third-person omniscient
2. Which pronoun is the clearest sign of second-person narration? (one word)
3. What is a key limitation of first-person narration?
- ☐ (a) The narrator cannot describe feelings.
- ☐ (b) The reader only knows what the narrator knows and believes.
- ☐ (c) It must be written in the present tense.
- ☐ (d) It cannot include dialogue.
4. Which one-word term describes an all-knowing narrator who can reveal any character's thoughts?
5. Rewrite in third person. The narrator ('I') is a boy called Kai: 'I stared at my brother.'
6. Why might an author retell a familiar fairy tale from the villain's perspective?
- ☐ (a) To make the story shorter
- ☐ (b) To reveal the villain's motives and possibly make readers sympathise with them
- ☐ (c) Because villains are always narrators
- ☐ (d) To remove all conflict from the story
7. Which point of view makes dramatic irony (the reader knowing more than a character) easiest to create?
- ☐ (a) First person
- ☐ (b) Third-person omniscient
- ☐ (c) Second person
- ☐ (d) None of these
8. When retelling a scene from another character's perspective, what should change besides the pronouns?
- ☐ (a) Nothing else
- ☐ (b) Only the title
- ☐ (c) What the character notices, knows and feels about events
- ☐ (d) The spelling of the names

Answer sheet

1. Third-person limited — The narrator uses 'he' and follows only Tom's thoughts and feelings. No other character's thoughts are revealed.
2. you — Second person addresses the reader as 'you'.
3. The reader only knows what the narrator knows and believes. — First-person narrators cannot see into other characters' minds and may be biased.
4. omniscient — 'Omniscient' means all-knowing.
5. Kai stared at his brother. — 'I' becomes 'Kai' and 'my' becomes 'his'.
6. To reveal the villain's motives and possibly make readers sympathise with them — Shifting perspective lets readers see events differently and can challenge who is 'good' or 'bad'.
7. Third-person omniscient — An all-knowing narrator can reveal information that the characters do not have.
8. What the character notices, knows and feels about events — A true change of perspective changes the details, knowledge and attitudes in the narration.