Stewart Pidd's Point of View Essay

Treana Penn
April 7, 2009
English 201B
From a Bad Point of View
Pollitt and Baker explain the basics of point of view: they define point of view as “the perspective from which one tells a story or writes an essay” (144). There is a specific way to control them, “The key to controlling point of view is choosing the correct pronoun.” (144). There are more than one type of point-of-views, “There are three point of views.” (144). Each perspective is useful for something; “The first-person point of view emphasizes the writer and is suitable for personal experience writing, the second-person point of view emphasizes the reader and is suitable for letters, and the third-person point of view places the emphasis on the subject and works best for academic writing.” (144-45). Unless instructed otherwise, “students should avoid the second-person point of view in academic writing.” (145). Writers should control their point of view, “Since so few college students can control point of view., maintaining consistency is an easy way to excel as a writer.” (144-45). He can easily fix the point-of-view shifts in his report “Ignacio Pistachio: Ludville’s Greatest Explorer”. Stewart Pidd should be able to maintain a consistence third-person point of view.
With a few minor changes, Pidd can shift his opening sentence from the first-person perspective to the third person: “we”. He states, “We all know that over two-hundred years ago Ludvilles’s greatest explorer, Ignacio Pistachio, fell off his ship. . . ” (1). Pidd misuses the first-person plural pronoun “we.” Pidd can take out the first independent clause “we all

know”. From there the remaining subordinating clause “that over. . .” can be changed into an independent by removing the subordinating conjunction “that”. The corrected sentence will read, “Over two hundred years ago Ludville’s greatest explorer, Ignacio Pistachio, fell off his ship.” (1).
Pidd can fix the next shift by simply replacing the pronoun with a plural noun. He writes, “What you don’t know is how he died.” (1). Pidd misuses the second -person pronoun “you.” Pidd can fix the error by replacing the second-person pronoun “you” with an appropriate noun “people”. The correct sentence will read “What they don’t know he is how he died” (1).
Pidd can fix his last second-person point-of-view shift , which comes in the form of an imperative. He says, “Consider this: Being lost in the primordial California wilderness did nothing to soften Pistachio’s disposition or sate his great appetite.” (2). In this paragraph, Pidd gives a command. The command Pidd gives, “consider this. . .”. In the sentence “consider this…” “you” is being implied. Pidd can fix the point of view by omitting the
imperative and replacing the implied “you” with a noun followed by the modal verb “should”. The correct sentence will read “Readers should consider this:…” (2).
Pidd can fix his first-person singular and plural point-of-view shifts by omitting the first pronoun, replacing the second pronoun and changing the question into a statement. He writes, “I wonder, should our children really be taught to celebrate such an exploitative kook?” (2). Pidd misuses the pronouns “I” and “our”. Pidd can fix the point of view shift by eliminating the first-person pronoun “I” by eliminating the independent clause “I wonder” and replace the possessive pronoun “our” with a possessive noun “Ludville’s”. Ludvile’s children should not be taught to celebrate such an exploitative kook.


Stewart Pidd should be able to maintain a consistence third-person point of view.
Pollitt and Baker explain the basics of point of view: they view a point of view as “the perspective from which one tells a story or writes an essay” (144). There is a specific way to control them, “The key to controlling point of view is choosing the correct pronoun.” (144). There are more than one type of point-of-views, “There are three point of views.” (144). Each perspective is useful for something; “The first-person point of view emphasizes the writer and is suitable for personal experience writing, the second-person point of view emphasizes the reader and is suitable for letters, and the third-person point of view places the emphasis on the subject and works best for academic writing.” (144-45). Unless instructed otherwise, “students should avoid the second-person point of view in academic writing.” (145). Writers should control their point of view, “Since so few college students can control point of view., maintaining consistency is an easy way to excel as a writer.” (144-45). He can easily fix the point-of-view shifts in his report “Ignacio Pistachio: Ludville’s Greatest Explorer”.
As Aldous Huxley says. “The only completely consistent people are completely dead”. If what Huxley says is true. Pidd is very much alive. Therefore, consistency is a rare thing among the living. Point-of-view consistency is a rare thing among beginning writers. Maintaining consistent point of view is an easy way to separate oneself from other writers. With the scarcity of consistency, writers should strive to stay with only one type of point-of-view, such as first person.