American Diploma · ACT · Reading: Craft and Structure

Point of View, Tone and Perspective

How to identify the narrator and the author's point of view, read tone and attitude, and separate characters' perspectives in ACT literary narratives, with tone vocabulary, worked examples and a full practice passage.

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What this question type tests

Point-of-view questions belong to the Craft and Structure category (26–33% of the scored ACT Reading questions, about 7 to 9 of the 27 scored questions). Every scored ACT Reading section has one literary narrative (fiction or memoir), and that passage almost always brings several questions about who is telling the story, how characters see each other, and what feeling the words carry. Informational passages ask about the author's point of view and tone too.

Form	Typical stem (in our own words)	What you must decide
Narrator	"The point of view from which the passage is told is best described as that of:"	Who tells the story and from what moment in time
Character's perspective	"Based on the passage, the father views the shop as:" / "The uncle's reply mainly suggests that he:"	What ONE character thinks or feels, from his words and actions
Author's attitude	"The author's attitude toward X is best described as:" / "The author would most likely agree that:"	What the writer thinks, from his evaluative words
Tone	"The tone of the final paragraph is best described as:"	The feeling carried by the word choice
Shift	"Over the course of the passage, the narrator's feelings change from:"	The attitude at the start and at the end

Step 1: Identify the narrator

Ask two questions: Who is speaking? and When is he speaking?

Narrator type	Clues	What he can know
First person, main character	"I", "my"; the story is about the narrator	Only his own thoughts; guesses about others
First person, observer	"I", but the story is mainly about someone else ("my uncle")	What he saw and what he was told
Third person, limited	"he", "she"; we follow one character's thoughts	One character's thoughts only
Third person, omniscient	"he", "she"; we see inside several characters' minds	Everyone's thoughts

Time position matters just as much. Many ACT narrators are adults looking back. The passage then has two "selves": the experiencing self (the boy, who felt things at the time) and the narrating self (the adult, who now understands them). Clues: "years later", "I did not understand then", "I later realized", "now", a present-tense ending.

✓ "What I did not understand then was that the shop was failing." → adult narrator who knows more now. ✗ "a boy telling events as they happen" ("then" shows distance in time).
✓ "I thought of it, that first week, as a prison." → the BOY's feeling. ✗ "The narrator believes the shop is a prison." (the adult no longer thinks so)
✓ "She wondered if her brother had noticed" (third person, inside her mind only) → limited. ✗ omniscient (we never enter the brother's mind).

مين بيحكي وإمتى؟

أول حاجة في القصة: الراوي مين؟ (I ولا he/she) وبيحكي إمتى؟ لو لقيت years later أو I did not understand then أو now يبقى ده واحد كبير بيفتكر وهو صغير. ساعتها فرّق بين إحساس الولد وقتها ورأي الراجل دلوقتي.

Step 2: Separate the voices

A passage can contain several points of view: the narrator's, each character's and, in informational texts, the author's and the views of the people he quotes. The ACT often puts one person's view in an answer about another person.

Attach every opinion to its owner. "Fixing the past" is the father's phrase, not the narrator's adult view.
Characters reveal themselves by what they say, what they do and how others react. The uncle never says "I respect every customer"; he shows it by treating every watch the same way.
In informational passages, quoted people are not the author. "Critics argue…" gives the critics' view; look for the author's reply ("fairly", "but", "I think").

✓ "The father doubts the shop has a future." (he asks how long his brother will keep "fixing the past") ✗ "The narrator, as an adult, thinks the shop was a waste of time." (that was the boy's side, taken "without thinking")
✓ "The author agrees the critics have a point." ("Critics point out, fairly…") ✗ "The author agrees with the critics completely." ("fairly" accepts one point, not the whole view)

Step 3: Read the tone

Tone is the attitude carried by word choice. To find it, collect the evaluative words (words that judge: foolish, generous, careful, sadly, a small pleasure) and ask: positive, negative, neutral or mixed? Then pick the choice that matches the direction AND the strength.

Word / phrase	Meaning / use
admiring / appreciative	shows respect and approval
affectionate	shows warm love
reverent	deeply respectful, almost as for something sacred
nostalgic	longing for the past, sweet and sad together
wistful	quietly sad about something lost or impossible
rueful	regretful, usually about one's own mistake, often with a little humour
wry	dry, quietly amused by a contradiction
ironic	saying one thing but meaning something different, or noting a result opposite to what was expected
ambivalent	pulled in two directions, mixed feelings
detached / objective	no personal feeling shown
skeptical	doubtful, needs more proof
critical	pointing out faults
resentful	bitter about being treated unfairly
sardonic / scornful	mocking, contemptuous (rarely the answer for an ACT author)
defensive	protecting oneself from criticism
earnest	serious and sincere

The clue in the text	The tone it points to
"I am sorry to say", "less often than I should have"	rueful, regretful
"a prison with a sea view"	humorous, wry (a complaint made comic)
"It is a generous answer… But it is also a little sad"	ambivalent, mixed
facts, numbers, no "I", no judging adjectives	objective, neutral
"remarkable", "took the trouble", "careful"	admiring, appreciative

الـ Tone

لم الكلمات اللي فيها حكم أو إحساس. بعدين حدد: إيجابي ولا سلبي ولا مختلط؟ وقوي ولا هادي؟ كُتّاب الـ ACT غالبًا متوازنين، فالاختيارات المتطرفة زي furious أو ecstatic أو contemptuous نادرًا ما تكون صح.

Worked examples

Excerpt 1 (literary narrative): Nadia counted the steps from the bus stop to the hospital doors: forty-two. She wondered whether her brother, sitting beside her, was counting too, or whether he was simply looking at the pigeons the way he looked at everything, as though nothing could surprise him.

Worked example 1 — narrator's point of view

Question: The point of view of the excerpt is best described as that of:

A) a third-person narrator who follows Nadia's thoughts only.
B) a first-person narrator who is Nadia's brother.
C) a third-person narrator who knows both characters' thoughts equally.
D) Nadia speaking about herself in the first person.

Answer: A. The narrator says "she", so it is third person. We know what Nadia counts and wonders, but we only see the brother from outside ("She wondered whether…"). That is limited third person.

B is wrong — There is no "I" in the excerpt.
C is wrong — If the narrator knew the brother's thoughts, Nadia would not need to wonder.
D is wrong — Nadia is "she", not "I".

Excerpt 2 (humanities): The new museum's architect has been praised for his daring, and the building is certainly impossible to ignore. Whether it is a good place to look at paintings is another matter. Several rooms are so bright that visitors must squint at the canvases, and the curving walls leave little space for anything larger than a postcard.

Worked example 2 — author's attitude in an informational passage

Question: The author's attitude toward the museum building is best described as:

A) enthusiastic approval.
B) impressed by its boldness but doubtful about its usefulness.
C) completely indifferent.
D) angry and insulting.

Answer: B. "Certainly impossible to ignore" grants something positive; "another matter" turns to the problems (bright rooms, no space). Mixed tone: impressed + doubtful.

A is wrong — Half-right: ignores the criticism after "Whether…".
C is wrong — Reversed: the author gives detailed opinions, so he cares.
D is wrong — Too extreme: the criticism is calm and specific, not insulting.

Excerpt 3 (literary narrative): When Karim announced that he would study music, his grandfather said nothing for a long time. Then he went to the cupboard, took down the old oud that no one had played in thirty years, and set it on the table between them without a word.

Worked example 3 — character's perspective

Question: The grandfather's action most strongly suggests that he:

A) disapproves of Karim's decision but is too polite to say so.
B) wants Karim to sell the old instrument.
C) has forgotten how to play the oud.
D) quietly supports Karim's decision.

Answer: D. Characters show their views through actions. Giving the young man the family instrument right after his announcement is a silent gesture of support.

A is wrong — Reversed: the gift does not fit disapproval; the silence before it is thoughtful, not cold.
B is wrong — Not supported: nothing suggests selling.
C is wrong — Not supported: the excerpt says no one played it, not that he forgot how.

Excerpt 4 (memoir): I promised my mother I would write every week from university. I wrote twice in the first month, once in the second, and then, as students do, discovered that a promise can be postponed indefinitely.

Worked example 4 — tone of a sentence

Question: The tone of the final sentence is best described as:

A) angry.
B) proud.
C) wry and self-critical.
D) objective and scientific.

Answer: C. The narrator admits he broke his promise, but "as students do" and "postponed indefinitely" make the confession lightly comic. Wry + self-critical.

A is wrong — Too extreme, and there is no one he is angry at.
B is wrong — Reversed: he is admitting a fault, not boasting.
D is wrong — The sentence is full of personal feeling and humour, not neutral facts.

Classic traps

Boy vs man. The choice gives the young narrator's feeling as the adult's view (or the other way round).
Wrong owner. One character's words or opinion are attributed to another character or to the author.
Extreme tone. furious, ecstatic, contemptuous, completely indifferent: ACT tones are usually moderate.
Half a mixed tone. The author praises and then says "but": the answer must include both sides.
One-sentence tone. The tone of a paragraph must fit ALL of its clues, not one dramatic word.
Reading jokes literally. "A prison with a sea view" is not a real prison, and the narrator is not furious.

Fast strategy for test day

In a literary narrative, note the narrator type (I / he / she) and time clues (then, later, now) during your first read.
Mark whose opinion each strong phrase belongs to.
For tone, collect 2–3 evaluative words, label the direction (positive / negative / mixed) and the strength, then match.
For shift questions, check the first and last appearance of the feeling: both ends must match.
Prefer moderate, two-sided choices ("admiring but doubtful") when the passage contains "but" or "yet".

Practice

Now try a full literary narrative (about 700 words) with 9 questions on narrator, characters' perspectives and tone. It is untimed, but aim for about 10 minutes. As you read, separate the boy's feelings from the adult narrator's understanding.

Remember

Narrator questions: decide who is speaking (I / he / she) and from what moment in time.
An adult looking back has two selves: the feelings of the young self are not the adult's present view.
Characters show their perspectives through words, actions and other characters' reactions; attach every opinion to its owner.
Tone comes from evaluative words; match the direction (positive, negative, mixed) and the strength.
ACT tones are usually moderate and often mixed: avoid extreme choices.

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