Notice what each narrator can know
Compare a character’s interpretation with another person’s account.
Supplied materials
- Original fictional passage A, narrator Mara: “Jon walked past my table without speaking. He must be angry about yesterday’s game.”
- Original fictional passage B, narrator Jon: “I hurried past the tables looking for the office. I had to return the borrowed key before lunch.”
Learn the idea
A narrator reports from a particular position. A first-person narrator can describe their own thoughts, but may infer another person’s motives without direct access to them.
Separate the shared observation from its interpretation. Multiple perspectives can reveal a mistaken inference without proving that either person knows every part of the event.
- Identify the action described by both narrators.
- Underline Mara’s explanation for the action.
- Find Jon’s stated reason.
- Write a comparison using “observes” for the action and “infers” for Mara’s motive.
See the method in action
Both accounts describe Jon passing the tables. Mara infers anger, while Jon reports a time-sensitive key return. The second account gives an alternative motive that the first account did not consider.
Check your reasoning
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See the answer and explanation
Jon’s account provides a reason Mara did not know when interpreting his action.
Jon explains his purpose as returning a key. Mara’s statement about anger is an inference, not a directly observed motive. No account says the key was lost.
Take it further
Write one extra sentence in which Jon says he was also upset about the game. Explain why a person can have more than one motive.
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Longer courses for learners ages 14+
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