Point of View Practice
Narrative Perspective
Directions
1. We will read the passages.
2. You will determine the point of view.
3. Write your answers on a separate sheet
of paper.
4. Write at least one sentence explaining
your answer.
The Abominable Snowman
By R.A. Montgomery
You are a mountain climber. Three
years ago you spent the summer at a
climbing school in the mountains of
Colorado. Your instructors said that you
had natural skills as a climber. You made
rapid progress and by the end of the
summer you were leading difficult rock and
ice climbs.
Outside the Box
By Dan Allosso
Three shots like thunderclaps rang out
from surround speakers in the basement
rec room. A white controller jumped in
Reid Anderson’s hand each time he
squeezed the trigger. Tactile feedback. A
speaker in the controller made snapping
sounds like the action of a pistol. Reid felt
this more than he heard it. The shots
made his ears ring.
Teen Idol
By Meg Cabot
I witnessed the kidnapping of Betty Ann
Mulvaney. Well, me and the twenty-three
other people in first period Latin class at
Clayton High School (student population
1,200).
Unlike everybody else, however, I
actually did something to try and stop it.
Well, sort of. I went, “Kurt, what are you
doing?”
Kurt just rolled his eyes. He was all,
“Relax, Jen. It’s a joke, okay?”
Understood Betsy
By Dorothy Canfield
Aunt Harriet never meant to say any of
this when Elizabeth Ann could hear, but
the little girl’s ears were as sharp as little
girls’ ears always are, and long before she
was nine, she knew all about the opinion
Aunt Harriet had of the Putneys. She did
not know, to be sure, what “chores” were,
but she took it confidently from Aunt
Harriet’s voice that they were something
very, very dreadful.
I Am Number Four
By Pittacus Lore
The man brings his legs over the front
of the cot when the shake starts again. A
longer, firmer shake, and another crash,
this time closer. The man gets to his feet
and walks slowly to the door. Silence.
The boy sits up. “No,” the man whispers,
and in that instant the blade of a sword,
long and gleaming, made of a shining
white metal that is not found on Earth,
comes through the door and sinks deeply
into the man’s chest.
The Magic School Bus: Inside the Human Body
By Joanna Cole and Bruce Degen
It all began when Ms. Frizzle showed our
class a film strip about the human body. We
knew trouble was about to start, because we
knew Ms. Frizzle was the strangest teacher in
the school.
Glinda of Oz
By Frank L. Baum
Ozma took the arm of her hostess, but
Dorothy lagged behind. When at last she
rejoined Glinda and Ozma in the hall, she
found them talking earnestly about the
condition of the people, and how to make
them more happy and contented– although
they were already the happiest and most
contented folks in all the world. This
interested Ozma, of course, but it didn’t
interest Dorothy very much, so the little girl
ran over to the big table on which was lying
open Glinda’s Great Book of Records.
The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens
By Sean Covey
The 7 Habits of Highly Defective Teens
Habit 1: React - Blame all of your problems on
your parents, your stupid teachers or
professors, your lousy neighborhood, your
boyfriend or girlfriend, or something or
somebody else. Be a victim. Take no
responsibility for your life. Act like an animal.
If you’re hungry, eat. If someone yells at you,
yell back. If you feel like you’re doing
something you know is wrong, just do it.
Eragon (Inheritance)
By Christopher Paolini
Eragon knelt in a bed of trampled reed
grass and scanned the tracks with a
practiced eye. The prints told him that the
deer had been in the meadow only a half
hour before. Soon they would bed down. His
target, a small doe with a pronounced limp in
her left forefoot, was still in the herd. He was
amazed she had made it so far without a wolf
or a bear catching her.
The Grapes of Wrath
By John Steinbeck
The last rains lifted the corn quickly and
scattered weed colonies and grass along the
sides of the road. In the last part of May the
sky grew pale and the clouds that had hung
in high puffs for so long in the spring were
dissipated. The sun flared down on the
growing corn day after day until a line of
brown spread along the edge of each green
bayonet. The clouds appeared, and went
away, and in a while they did not try anymore.
The weeds grew darker green to protect
themselves, and they did not spread
anymore.
Answers
1. 2nd-Person
6. 1st-Person
2. 3rd-Person Limited
7. 3rd-Person Omniscient
3. 1st-Person
8. 2nd-Person
4. 3rd-Person Omniscient 9. 3rd-Person Limited
5. 3rd-Person Objective
10. 3rd-Person Objective