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Welcome to Week 7 of our Grammar Guide. This week is all about Point of View. We aren't talking about the arguing thing though (thankfully). We are looking at this in how it relates to rules of grammar and how it gets applied in writing. First up, let's talk about the Grammar Point of View: Grammar has three points of view: First person - The speaker of the sentence (I/We) Second Person - The person spoken to (you) Third Person - The person or thing spoken about (he, she, it, they) Point of View is also used to describe how a narrative (story) is told. Fiction stories most commonly have Third Person Limited or First Person Points of View. So, lets dive in: Narrative Point of View - When we tell stories, the story has a voice. The voice of the story is the Narrative Point of View. There are generally considered 5 Narrative Points of View (that also overlap on the first 3 with Grammar Point of View): First Person - The story is told through the eyes of the character (I did...) and is limited to that character's thoughts and feelings. This is the most common POV other than Third Person Limited. Second Person - The narrator is speaking to you, the reader. This is not common in fiction. It is common in non-fiction such as speeches and advertising. Third Person - Omniscient - Narrator is all seeing and all knowing. They can (and do) flit all between characters' thoughts and motivations. This was very common in older writing but has fallen out of favor in recent decades. Third Person - Limited (sometimes called limited omniscient)- Narrator relays outside events but can also see thoughts and motivations of the main character. Changing character point of view can occur, but there is usually a break or chapter change to indicate switching of characters. Third Person Limited is the most common point of view other than First Person. Third Person - Objective - Narrator relays events of only what can be seen. You do not see any characters' thoughts or motivations in this view. This is most common in news articles. One of the things that can trip us up as writers is switching points of view midstream or "author voice" intruding. An example is when you are in third person limited as a point of view and suddenly telling what another character thinks or feels. Eh? You can share how the narrating character might think another character feels or thinks, but unless you go full omniscient, this is a writing error. One oddity that is not common is the "Breaking of the fourth wall" as it is called in television. This is where a character in the action turns and speaks to you the reader (or watcher). Kevin Spacey in "House of Cards" did this. Deadpool does this in all his iterations. It's not all that common in fiction writing and can upend a reader if they aren't expecting it. Hope this helps! Let us know what you think below and see you next week!

Write a story from the point of view of an item that has been in your family for years. What story does this item have to tell? Is it great-grandma’s china or grandpa’s watch? Maybe it is the ring your mother bought as a girl?