A Complete Guide to First, Second, and Third Person

The first, second, and third persons are present in all forms of writing in English. But what, exactly, do these terms refer to? In our complete guide, we cover everything you need to know about first-, second-, and third-person points of view.

What Are First, Second, and Third Person?

We use the terms first person, second person, and third person to describe a narrative point of view – that is, the perspective from which an author is voicing a piece of writing.

The point of view is usually evident in the pronouns that appear:

• The first person uses I/We.
• The second person uses You.
• The third person uses He/She/They/It.

We’ll explain more below about how first-, second-, and third-person perspectives work.

What Is a First-Person Point of View?

In the first-person point of view, the author delivers the content from the perspective of the “speaker” – the person relaying information. This person may be a real individual giving a personal account in a piece of nonfiction or a narrator or character describing events and objects in a work of fiction.

First-person pronouns can be singular:

• I

I was scared of the rat.

• Me

The rat was scared of me.

• My

I lost my pet rat.

• Mine

That pet rat is mine.

• Myself

If I can’t find my rat, I’ll never forgive myself.

Or plural:

• We

We are best friends.

• Us

There are no better friends than us.

• Ours

The Best Friends Award is ours.

• Ourselves

We won the award ourselves.

Writing that uses the first person is more immediate and personal. It allows the reader to get inside the narrator’s or character’s head and understand their thoughts, arguments, and feelings better. 

Of course, you can’t always trust a first-person point of view – as is true of an unreliable narrator. What’s more, first-person points of view limit the reader’s experience of events to one person’s perspective.

Authors use the first person most often in narrative writing, but the perspective can also appear in formal documents and some academic writing. 

However, it’s important to keep in mind that the first-person point of view isn’t always appropriate. In some essay forms, for example, using the first person is incorrect because doing so can detract from the formal, impersonal tone of the piece.

And in instructions or technical documents, the first person would usually seem out of place:

Step 1: Remove the small screws with my screwdriver. ✘

Step 1: Remove the small screws with a screwdriver. ✔

Examples of the First Person

Last night I dreamed I went to Manderley again. It seemed to me that I was passing through the iron gates that led to the driveway. The drive was just a narrow track now, its stony surface covered with grass and weeds. Sometimes, when I thought I had lost it, it would appear again, beneath a fallen tree or beyond a muddy pool formed by the winter rains. The trees had thrown out new low branches which stretched across my way. I came to the house suddenly, and stood there with my heart beating fast and tears filling my eyes.

– Rebecca (Daphne du Maurier)

I wish that we would not fight for landscapes that remind us of who we think we are. I wish we would fight, instead, for landscapes buzzing and glowing with life in all its variousness. 

– H Is For Hawk (Helen Macdonald)

What Is a Second-Person Point of View?

In a second-person point of view, the writer delivers the story or information from the perspective of the person being addressed. Second-person pronouns include:

• You

You are the winner!

• Your

You go to collect your prize.

• Yours

The prize is finally yours.

• Yourself

You are very proud of yourself.

The second-person point of view is rare in fiction, as it puts the reader in the position of the protagonist. However, some experimental works (such as Italo Calvino’s If On A Winter’s Night A Traveler) make use of this unusual perspective. The second-person point of view can also appear in role-playing games or immersive “choose your own adventure” narratives.

Second-person perspectives appear most commonly in marketing copy to address the intended audience directly with the purpose of solving their problems.

Examples of the Second Person

Try to foresee now everything that might make you interrupt your reading. Cigarettes within reach, if you smoke, and the ashtray. Anything else? Do you have to pee? All right, you know best.

– If On A Winter’s Night A Traveler (Italo Calvino)

“What kind of circus is only open at night?” people ask. No one has a proper answer, yet as dusk approaches there is a substantial crowd of spectators gathering outside the gates.

You are amongst them, of course. Your curiosity got the better of you, as curiosity is wont to do. You stand in the fading light, the scarf around your neck pulled up against the chilly evening breeze, waiting to see for yourself exactly what kind of circus only opens once the sun sets.

– The Night Circus (Erin Morgenstern)

What Is a Third-Person Point of View?

The third-person point of view is that of someone other than the narrator or the reader. Third-person pronouns include:

• He/him/his/himself

He put on his hat. It didn’t fit him, even though he had made it himself.

• She/her/hers/herself

The mistake was hers, but she wouldn’t admit it. It wasn’t her style to embarrass herself like that.

• They/them/their/theirs/themselves

They knew the treasure belonged to them. The gold was rightfully theirs, and they would take it for themselves.

• It/its/itself

The creature waved when it saw itself in the mirror. Its terrifying face didn’t seem to bother it.

You can use the third-person perspective to tell stories from multiple perspectives or to take a more distant, “neutral” approach to the information you’re presenting.

In fiction, third-person narration can be either limited or omniscient:

• A limited point of view means the author tells the story in the third person from the perspective of a single character. The character cannot provide information they’re not aware of:

She heard a sound from above, but chose to ignore it. There were more important things to focus on, like the battle around her.

• An omniscient point of view means the author tells the story from the perspective of an all-knowing narrator who can explain and describe events or information that the main character(s) may not be aware of:

She heard a sound from above. Unfortunately, she was too distracted by the battle to look up, and so she missed the sight of a huge phoenix soaring over the castle.

Many forms of writing, from novels to news reports and academic essays, make use of the third person.

Examples of the Third Person

There could not have been a lovelier sight; but there was none to see it except a little boy who was staring in at the window. He had ecstasies innumerable that other children can never know; but he was looking through the window at the one joy from which he must be forever barred.

– Peter Pan (J. M. Barrie)

The country people, indeed, did not always clearly distinguish between the Fairies and the dead. They called them both the “Silent People”; and the Milky Way they thought was the path along which the dead were carried to Fairyland.

– Lud-in-the-Mist (Hope Mirrlees)

Point of View and Dialogue

While the easiest way to identify the first, second, or third person is to look at the use of pronouns, remember to keep dialogue in mind.

When characters are speaking, they may use any number of different pronouns. This can cause confusion when you’re trying to identify the point of view of a piece of writing.

To avoid this confusion, focus only on the pronouns the writer uses in the narration – that is, everything except the dialogue. In the following example, the pronoun I outside the quotation marks tells us that the writing is in the first person, despite the use of third-person pronouns in the dialogue:

“He was there at first, but when she turned around he had vanished,” I explained. Unfortunately, no one paid any attention to me.

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