TEAS Ready✍️ Reading · Craft and Structure · Lesson 4 of 5 · 5 min
Point of view and tone: who is talking and how do they feel?
🎭 Two writers can report the same event and leave you with opposite feelings. Point of view and tone are how they do it.
💡 Key idea
Tone lives in word choice: pick the attitude the strongest words actually show, not one that is more extreme.
🧠 The idea
POINT OF VIEW has two meanings on the TEAS. The first is the narrator's position: FIRST PERSON uses I and we and tells events from inside; SECOND PERSON speaks to you (common in directions); THIRD PERSON uses he, she and they and tells from outside. The second meaning is the author's attitude or position on a subject: supportive, opposed, neutral, doubtful. TONE is the attitude the writing expresses, shown through word choice: hopeful, alarmed, sarcastic, nostalgic, objective, urgent. Find tone by circling the most emotional words. "The tiny clinic bravely kept its doors open" is admiring; "The clinic finally bothered to open" is critical. Wrong tone choices are often too extreme ("furious" when the writer is only concerned) or the opposite of the text. An objective tone uses neutral words and gives facts without judging.
✏️ Worked example
"I still remember the creak of the screen door at Grandma's farmhouse and the smell of bread cooling on the sill. Those summers will never come again." Pronouns "I" show first-person point of view. Words like "still remember," sensory details and "will never come again" show a fond longing for the past. The tone is nostalgic. "Bitter" is too negative, since nothing is resented, and "objective" is wrong because the writer is sharing feelings, not neutral facts.
📌 Takeaways
- First person: I/we. Third person: he/she/they.
- Tone = attitude shown by word choice.
- Beware tone choices that are too extreme.
📖 Terms in this lesson
Point of view: The perspective a text is told from or the author's position on a subject; for example, "I" and "we" signal first person.
Tone: The author's attitude toward the subject, shown through word choice; for example, a tone can be hopeful, critical or neutral.
✅ Check yourself
Question 1 of 3
"She checked the monitor twice before she let herself breathe." From which point of view is this sentence told?
- Third person
- No point of view
- First person
- Second person
Show the answer and rationale
Answer: A
The narrator uses "she" and "herself," describing the character from outside, which is third person. First person would use "I," and second person would address the reader as "you." Every narrated sentence has some point of view.
Question 2 of 3
A report states: "The study included 240 adults. Half received the new program; half did not." Which word best describes its tone?
- Objective
- Enthusiastic
- Anxious
- Sarcastic
Show the answer and rationale
Answer: A
The sentences give numbers without any judgment words, so the tone is objective. Nothing shows excitement, mockery or worry.
Question 3 of 3
A writer calls a new hospital policy "somewhat confusing" but says it "may help in time." Which describes the writer's attitude?
- Cautiously hopeful
- Openly furious
- Completely indifferent
- Wildly enthusiastic
Show the answer and rationale
Answer: A
Mild criticism plus "may help in time" shows a careful, hopeful view. "Furious" and "wildly enthusiastic" are far too extreme for this mild wording, and the writer clearly cares, so "indifferent" is wrong.
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