Point of View | Answer Keys

Student Concept Worksheet Answers

Question	Answer
1	A. First Person Uses "I" and we only have access to the narrator's thoughts.
2	C. Third Person Omniscient We can read multiple characters' minds - Marcus's sinking heart AND Jamie's relief.
3	B. Third Person Limited Uses "she" and we only access Elena's thoughts. She "wondered" what her brother was thinking - she can't know.
4	In third person omniscient, we could know what other people in the cafeteria actually thought about the haircut, not just what "I" assumed. We might learn that most people didn't notice at all, or that some people liked it.
5	An author might choose first person for a mystery because it limits what readers know to what the narrator knows. This creates suspense - we can't read the detective's mind or know what the suspect is really thinking. We discover clues alongside the narrator.

Practice Worksheet Answers

Question	Answer
1	A. First person
2	1) "I'd been dreaming about this moment for three years" (uses "I"). 2) "I honestly couldn't tell" (narrator can only guess at others' motivations).
3	The narrator describes Derek as a show-off who "acted like he was better than everyone else." This reveals the limitation of first person: we only get the narrator's biased perspective. Derek might not actually be showing off - this is just how the narrator interprets his behavior.
4	B. First person narrators can only guess at others' motivations because they can't read minds.
5	From Derek's perspective, readers might learn that he's been trying to be friendly all along, not showing off. We might understand his smile as genuine, not smug. The original narrator's negative assumptions might be revealed as unfair or inaccurate.
6	B. Third person limited
7	We don't know what Jayden was thinking while he was at the hospital or why exactly he didn't respond to texts earlier. An omniscient narrator would tell us Jayden's internal state and thoughts, not just what he texts to Mia.
8	B. It demonstrates the limited nature of third person limited - we're restricted to what Mia knows.
9	The third person limited POV lets us experience Mia's guilt intensely - we feel her "guilt flooding through her" and see her regret about "assuming the worst." Because we're in her head, we understand her emotional journey from frustration to guilt to relief, which creates sympathy for her mistake.
10	C. Third person omniscient
11	This proves omniscience because the narrator knows both what Carmen doesn't know AND what Lucia feels. An limited narrator could only tell us one character's thoughts. The phrase "What Carmen didn't know was that..." explicitly shows the narrator has knowledge beyond any single character.
12	Readers know the truth - that Lucia feels terrible and Sofia is lonely and misreading the situation - but each character only knows their own perspective. This creates dramatic irony because we can see the misunderstanding unfolding while the characters cannot. We know their conclusions ("Carmen decided Lucia didn't want to be her friend") are wrong.
13	B. Lucia's guilt and Sofia's loneliness
14	First person (Passage 1) creates intimacy with the narrator but limits us to their potentially biased view of Derek. Third person limited (Passage 2) still restricts us to one character's perspective but creates slight distance. Third person omniscient (Passage 3) gives us complete understanding but less intimacy with any single character. Each POV creates different effects: suspense about others' true thoughts (limited POVs) vs. dramatic irony (omniscient).

FAST Format Quiz Answers

Question	Answer
1	A. First person
2	B. First person narrators can only GUESS at others' thoughts, not know them for certain.
3	C. It creates intimacy and allows readers to understand the narrator's private struggles and feelings.
4	B. Understanding of the narrator's financial struggles and internal conflict about keeping secrets.
5	C. Third person omniscient
6	B. The narrator knows what Kenji imagines AND knows the "truth" that Kenji cannot see.
7	B. Readers know what classmates are actually thinking (supportive or distracted), but Kenji imagines they're judging him.
8	B. First person in "The Secret" creates intimacy with one person's hidden pain; omniscient in "The Presentation" reveals the gap between how we imagine others see us and reality.
9	See rubric and sample response below.
10	See rubric and sample response below.

Question 9 Scoring Rubric (POV Effects)

Score	Criteria
2	Identifies TWO distinct effects of first person POV, provides specific evidence for each, AND explains how each shapes reader understanding
1	Identifies two effects but with weak evidence or explanation, OR thoroughly discusses only one effect
0	Does not identify POV effects, provides no evidence, or response is off-topic

Sample 2-Point Response for Question 9:
First, the first person POV creates INTIMACY with the narrator's private pain. We hear their secret thoughts like "nothing has been normal since Dad lost his job" and feel their internal conflict about lying to friends. We wouldn't access these private feelings from any other POV. Second, first person creates LIMITATION - we can only GUESS what others think. The narrator says friends "probably think I don't want to hang out anymore," but we don't actually know. This uncertainty makes readers feel the narrator's isolation and worry because we share their incomplete knowledge.

Question 10 Scoring Rubric (POV Rewrite)

Score	Criteria
2	Provides a plausible first person rewrite AND clearly explains what information/effects would be lost without omniscient POV
1	Provides rewrite OR explanation, but not both, OR both are weak/incomplete
0	Does not provide appropriate rewrite, does not explain loss of omniscient view, or response is off-topic

Sample 2-Point Response for Question 10:
First person rewrite: "I stood at the front of the classroom, my notecards trembling in my hands. Twenty-five faces stared back at me, and I was certain every single one could see my fear."

What would be lost: Without the omniscient POV, readers would lose the DRAMATIC IRONY. We wouldn't know that Samantha is too worried about her own presentation to pay attention, or that Lin is silently cheering Kenji on. The original passage's point is that "none of them saw the same presentation" - but in first person, we'd only know Kenji's fearful interpretation, missing the truth that his fears are mostly unfounded. The message about how we misperceive others' judgments would be lost.

Quick Reference: POV Identification