English lang. type question!

[katiesara]

When you talk about something being written in the 'first person, 'second person' etc. What is the correct term for this? For example 'The story was written in the first person, therefore the ????? of the story was first person'. I haven't explained that too well, but maybe someone will understand!

[sylvday]

Voice. (You explained your query well enough.)

[katiesara]

Thank you that was exactly what I meant, was it really that simple!!

[pattie]

My boyfriend say's that should be "narrator"... he knows about these things.

[katiesara]

ok debate started!! I have no idea, but would like the definitive answer by monday morning so i can show off to my boss!!

[sft42]

Both answers are right but I would use "Narrator" when refering to the person telling the story so the emphasis would be on the first person.....and would use "voice" when the emphasis was on the story as a whole to describe the feel of the prose......perhaps not explained very well but I hope it helps.

[Quizmonster]

No, Katiesara, it wasn't that simple! 'Voice', in English language terms has nothing whatever to do with first/second person or who the narrator is. I'm afraid, therefore, that the earlier responses suggesting 'voice' as the answer are mistaken. Voice refers to the relationship between verbs and their subjects and, specifically, whether that is 'active' or 'passive'. The sentence: "The teacher opened the door" is in the active voice, whilst the sentence: "The door was opened by the teacher" is in the passive voice.

What you are asking about is - as other earlier answers suggest - the narrator. In first-person stories, the tale is told as seen through the eyes of one character - the narrator - who refers to him/herself as 'I' throughout. Obviously, he/she can only know what he/she knows...ie he doesn't know what's going on next door. In third-person stories, the tale is told as seen through the eyes of an all-seeing, godlike narrator, who knows what everyone is doing and thinking at all times.

For goodness sake...don't tell your boss on Monday that the answer's 'voice'!

[sylvday]

In defence of my suggestion of voice, I would simply point to an interview with Jonathan Franzen, author of the renowned novel "The Corrections, where he uses the term "first person voice" - http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=cache:UtslQ9PTdug
J:www.pw.org/mag/dq_franzen.htm+%22First+person+voice%22&hl=en&ie=UTF-8 I have also found many other other examples of this usage on the Internet.

[Quizmonster]

Jonathan Franzen (referred to in the above link) who used the phrase "first person voice" is, it seems, an American writer, so such a usage may be acceptable there. Having said that, it is not supported by the (American) Merriam-Webster Dictionary and it certainly does not appear to be supported by our very own OED.

One has to be very wary about using Americanisms in British communication...on a family visit to the USA, you'd be most unwise to tell your hosts' children to "stay on the pavement", for example, 'cos that's what traffic drives on over there!

In a lifetime's association with the minutiae of the English language, I have never heard the phrase "first person voice" until this very day. Is your boss a Yank, Katiesara?

[sylvday]

Re Quizmonster's comments above, at http://www.bris.ac.uk/Depts/English/staff/tck/appp
o_tk.html Tim Kendall(apparently British himself) of the English Department, Bristol University, uses the phrase "first person voice" in precisely the same way as Jonathan Franzen. I agree that the usage probably originated in the USA (not "America", if we're going to be pedantic), but surely it is simply the natural word to use in the sentence with the missing word katiesara first quoted. .

[Quizmonster]

I don't for a moment doubt that such usages are creeping into use in Britain...after all, it would be little short of a miracle if they didn't, given the way we do seem to import language in bulk from over the western horizon. What I'm saying is that I do not believe this particular one is yet broadly-accepted here. If you asked virtually any British teacher of English what is meant by 'voice' in terms of language/grammar, you would almost certainly get a response like mine (active/passive) from over 90% of them.

As to 'USA' rather than 'America', I'd guess the same percentage of British people in general would say 'America' meant 'the USA'...inaccurate though that might be. It's simply current British usage in a way in which 'voice' = 'person' just isn't. Are we supposed to start speaking about 'USAisms' instead of 'Americanisms' on the basis that someone might otherwise suspect we're talking about usage in Brazil or Colombia?

I also think 'narrator' fits perfectly into the ???? slot in the question.

Anyway, I'm going to leave it at that and let Katiesara take her choice. End of story, as far as I'm concerned.

[roomby]

Isn't it better to say narration, rather than narrator? i.e. "the narration of the story was first person".

[palaceben]

I think roomby may be on to something there, although I would suggest the word "narrative" rather than "narration."

[SJmacleod]

1st person singular: I. As in I walked into town. 2nd person singular: you. As in 'You are happy'. 3rd person singular: he/she/it: as in 'He is a schoolboy' Does this help?

[katiesara]

I went away for 48 hours and look what happened!! Anyway, thank you for your answers, to be honest the word I was looking for was voice - even it appears it was the wrong one. I have heard it used in this context - but am more than willing to accept it as an americanism (and no my boss is not american - mancunian actually - and I've probably spelt that wrong!!) Thanks to all!!

[jhart999]

Surely the answer is that you cannot have a phrase such as "the voice/narrator of the story was in the first/second person" because depending on what view point the story is from (fist or second person) it's going to come from one of two sources which cannot be narrowed down into one. What I mean is if the story is in the first person then it is told in the voice of that person. If it is in the second person then it is told by the narrator. Regardless of whether or not the "first person" IS the narrator it is still told in their voice because the language is structured in the first person :) I think the answer is why would you need to give a story a type in this context? You just say this: "the story was told in the first/second person". By using the verb "to tell" (as in "I'll tell you a story, children") you encapsulate the idea of first and second person, voice and narration. But I'm no expert (-;