Learn Point of View in Writing: First Person, Second Person & Third Person

Table of contents

First-person point of view

Second-person point of view

Third-person point of view

Are you using point of view correctly?

First-person point of view

When we talk about ourselves, our opinions, and the things that happen to us, we generally speak in the first person. The biggest clue that a sentence is written in the first person is the use of first-person pronouns. In the first sentence of this paragraph, the pronouns appear in bold text. We, us, our,and ourselves are all first-person pronouns. Specifically, they are plural first-person pronouns. Singular first-person pronouns include I, me, my, mine and myself.

Is they first-person point of view?

They is not first-person point of view. While they is now used as a singular pronoun to represent someone regardless of gender, it is still a third-person point of view. The only first-person pronouns are I and we for subjects, plus me and us for objects—all of which are gender-neutral.

First-person point of view examples

Many stories and novels are written in the first-person point of view. In this kind of narrative, you are inside a character’s head, watching the story unfold through that character’s eyes.

Second-person point of view

The second-person point of view belongs to the person (or people) being addressed. This is the “you” perspective. Once again, the biggest indicator of the second person is the use of second-person pronouns: you, your, yours, yourself, yourselves.

Second-person point of view examples

Stories and novels written in the second person exist, but they are much rarer than narratives written from a first- or third-person perspective.

Third-person point of view

The third-person point of view belongs to the person (or people) being talked about. The third-person pronouns include he, him, his, himself, she, her, hers, herself, it, its, itself, they, them, their, theirs, and themselves.

Third-person point of view examples

You can’t always rely on pronouns to tell you the perspective of a sentence. Not all sentences include pronouns, especially in the third person:

But if you look at this sentence and think “Mike isn’t me,” you can eliminate the first person. You can also think “I’m not talking to Mike,” so that eliminates the second person. You’re left with the third person.

Plenty of stories and novels are written in the third person. In this type of story, a disembodied narrator describes what the characters do and what happens to them. You don’t see directly through a character’s eyes as you do in a first-person narrative, but often the narrator describes the main character’s thoughts and feelings about what’s going on.

Speaking in the third person

Most of the time when people talk about themselves, they speak in the first person. It would certainly be eccentric to talk about yourself in the third person all the time, but you may do it once in a while for comedic effect or to grab someone’s attention.

Tina: Let’s get sushi for lunch. It’s Jeff’s favorite!

Tom: No, Jeff hates sushi. I think he’d rather get burritos.

Jeff: Um, does Jeff get a vote?

Are you using point of view correctly? 

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