Michigan Grade 4 English

Compare first-person and third-person accounts

Two versions of one moment can reveal different information. Compare the storytelling perspective as well as the pronouns.

Curriculum reference: Michigan K–12 English Language Arts Standards, from the Michigan Department of Education academic standards directory.

Michigan Grade 4 references for this activity

The state’s academic standards directory links the Michigan K–12 English Language Arts Standards, adopted by the State Board of Education in 2010. Read the individual Grade 4 requirements and the school’s sequence. These selected references support this activity; they do not cover the whole English curriculum.

These are selected grade-level expectations from the currently linked Michigan English standards adopted in 2010. Activity labels describe a teaching focus rather than reproduce complete requirements. Read the linked state document’s complete grade-level expectations, including its grade-specific details, alongside the school’s curriculum sequence.

A worked Grade 4 reading and writing activity

This original classroom example is separate from official assessment questions.

VERSION A: I stood behind the stage curtain and counted my first three words. My hands felt cold. When the teacher nodded, I stepped forward, hoping my voice would reach the last row.

VERSION B: Lena stood behind the stage curtain. She looked at her note card and rubbed her hands together. When the teacher nodded, she stepped forward. The students in the last row leaned toward the stage.

Try the activity

Compare who tells each version and the information available. Identify the first-person and third-person forms, then explain a detail that one account supplies and the other does not. Do not assume the versions report the same inner thoughts.

Follow the reasoning

Version A uses I and my to let the performer tell the moment. It directly supplies the performer’s cold hands and hope about being heard. Version B names Lena and uses she; a narrator describes her actions and the audience’s movement. It supplies the last-row students leaning forward, a detail absent from Version A. Version B does not explicitly tell Lena’s hope, while Version A does not name the performer. The accounts concern the same kind of rehearsal moment, but their information differs. A useful comparison explains these details in addition to identifying pronouns.

Notice what needs more practice

Third-person narration does not automatically reveal every character’s thoughts. This version describes observable actions and does not state why the last row leans forward. First person also does not prove that the author personally experienced the event; these are invented accounts. The pronouns identify perspective, but a response consisting only of I versus she misses how that perspective shapes what is described. Keep the performer’s unnamed identity in Version A separate from the name supplied in Version B unless a task explicitly establishes they are the same person.

Grade 4 English worksheets

Choose printable practice that matches the skill being taught. Check the task, reading difficulty, and directions before assigning it; the collection is independently published.

Browse Grade 4 English worksheets

Use the next session to build independence

1. Identify the storyteller’s pronouns in each version.
2. Find one detail unique to each account.
3. Explain how the perspective and information shape the moment.

Add a sentence to Version B that explicitly states Lena’s thought, and discuss how that changes the information the narrator supplies while leaving the third-person pronouns intact. Then compare teacher-selected first-person and third-person stories. Look at which experiences, observations, and thoughts are available rather than rely on a single pronoun test. These short accounts introduce the contrast; longer works may shift viewpoint or use a narrator whose knowledge is limited in different ways. Follow the school’s wider reading and writing sequence.

For more general reading and writing resources, visit the Grade 4 English Online Center.

Michigan Grade 4 English: useful planning questions

Does a third-person narrator always know every character’s thoughts?

No. Check what the particular text supplies. This third-person version describes actions without stating Lena’s private hope or why the audience leans forward.

Where are the complete state requirements?

The state’s academic standards directory links the Michigan K–12 English Language Arts Standards, adopted by the State Board of Education in 2010. Read the individual Grade 4 requirements and the school’s sequence. These selected references support this activity; they do not cover the whole English curriculum. The school’s sequence also includes reading, writing, speaking, listening, and language work beyond this example.