Some young writers have a desire to use second person when they write narration. They must be given clear directions about this use. This exercise will help your student understand how to:
1. Use first person
2. Use third person
3. Avoid careless use of second person
4. Control the use of person in their writing

The following exercise has been written so that your students can work independently of you or not need your help in any way. There are places where they are told to show you things; otherwise they should not need assistance. A writer, creating a narrative voice that speaks to the reader, must select what we call person. This is the name given to one characteristic of the voice the writer uses to tell the story. There are three forms (called number) of this voice. Your parent may want to read to you the following examples and go over them with you. If this isn’t clear, read this paragraph again and then ask your parent to explain it to you. This is important.

1. First person (using I or we) sounds like this: I (we) saw the car when it came toward the crossroad. First person reads like the voice is part of the action.
2. Second person (using you) sounds like this: When you stood on the comer, you saw the car as it came at you. Second person makes the reader part of the story.
3. Third person (using he, she or they) sounds like this: He was standing on the comer when the car came toward the intersection. The use of third person puts the narrative voice outside of the story. It makes the voice a non-part of the action. The narrative voice becomes just a teller of the story.

You must be careful when you write not to change the form (number) of your narrative voice. When I explained something to the students I had in my classes, they sometimes forgot what they had heard. They tried, but it was hard for them to do everything right. It may take practice for you to remember to control your use of person.

Read over the last paragraph again. Notice that there’s the use of the words you and they, but this doesn’t mean I’m using the second or third person. My narrative voice is still talking in first person, using I. In this example the voice (in first person) is using you and they to refer to other characters. Make sure that this is clear to you before you go on. You might want to discuss this with your parent.

Today you’ll practice using third person by writing a paragraph of directions written in third person, using he, she or they. This will be hard because you’ll want to use second person, you. Don’t. You’re going to describe how to do something. It’ll be easier if you tell how to do something that’s simple. A good way to start when faced with the job of describing to another person how to do something, is to make a list of steps or procedures. These steps should be listed in the same order in which they should be done. There should be at least eight steps in your list. This list can be just words if you want it that way. Below is an example of what I mean by a list of steps for an example paragraph we’ll write together. We might even give it a title: How to Sharpen a Pencil

1. Face sharpener
2. Hold pencil in left hand, the end to be sharpened pointed to the right
3. Grasp handle on the right side of the sharpener with thumb and forefinger
4. Insert end of pencil in hole in top of the left end of sharpener
5. Turn crank clockwise facing right end of sharpener
6. Push on pencil while turning crank 7. Remove pencil and examine it for sharpness (Repeat steps 4, 5 and 6 if necessary)
8. Blow dust off sharpened end

Our next step is to turn our list into sentences in which the narrative voice uses third person. To make this example a paragraph, we’ll have to have a topic sentence. The following sentence should work as a topic sentence. If we put this sentence before the directions, we’ll have a fully developed paragraph. Sharpening a pencil is an easy thing for a person to do.

Hint: Try to identify the person you’re speaking in when you’re in conversation with members of your family. Let them know you’re doing this and do it aloud.

How to Sharpen a Pencil

Sharpening a pencil is an easy thing for a person to do. A boy who would like to do this faces the sharpener. He then holds his pencil in his left hand so that the end to be sharpened points to his right. Using his right hand, he holds the handle on the right side of the sharpener with his thumb and forefinger. With his left hand he inserts the end of his pencil in the hole in the top of the left end of the sharpener. He turns the crank in a clockwise direction as he faces the right end of the sharpener and at the same time pushes the pencil into the sharpener. After a few turns of the handle, he removes his pencil and checks for sharpness. If it is not sharp enough, he repeats steps four, five and six. When the pencil is sharp, he blows the dust off the end that has been sharpened.
Now it’s your turn. You’re to write a description of how to do something in third person, just as we wrote how to sharpen a pencil in third person.

Now that you’ve written that description, you’re to write the same directions that you just wrote, but this time they should be in second person, using you. This is the voice with which the writer talks directly to the reader and calls the reader you. This should read like this: You are holding your pencil in your left hand, pointing the end to be sharpened to your right. Notice that the narrative voice in this example speaks in present tense. You might want to try this in your paragraph. You wrote directions in third person, using he, then the same directions in second person, using you.
Now you’ll write the same directions in first person, using I. This is the choice in which the narrative voice talks about itself. This should read like this: I hold the pencil in my left hand with the end to be sharpened pointing to my right.

In this exercise, you should have learned to control use of the person of your narrative voice. Your parent may ask you explain these three voices to one of your other family members.

Dave Marks is the founder of the National Writing Institute and author of the popular and acclaimed homeschool program for young writers: Writing Strands. See Page 2 for more details and visit the web site:
http://www.writingstrands.com for all of Dave’s excellent materials.

Purchase Writing Strands and other books by Dave Marks at the 2003 New England Homeschool & Family Learning Conference: http://www.homeeducator.com/conferences.htm