second person
The listener's perspective
Second person is the grammatical category for the one being addressed.
In English, *you* is the second-person pronoun, whether singular or plural.
Second-person narration speaks directly to the reader: You wake up in a strange room. You don't remember how you got here.
This technique creates immediacy but can feel gimmicky if overused.
The person addressed
- yourSecond-person possessive
- yoursPossessive for addressee
- yourselfReflexive second person
- yourselvesPlural reflexive pronoun
thou · thee · thy · thine · ye · pronoun · singular · plural
The person addressed
- yourSecond-person possessive
- thouArchaic second-person pronoun
- theeSecond-person object, antiquated
- yeArchaic second-person plural
y'all · youse · ya · u · ur · direct address · vocative · honorific
Story's central figure
- readerOne who peruses text
- player characterUser-controlled game persona
- choose-your-own-adventureStory with reader choices
- interactive fictionCommand-driven narrative software
point of view · present tense · immersion · self-insert · epistolary · unreliable narrator
Unavoidably necessary
- commandAuthoritative instruction given
- directiveFormal command or instruction
- tutorialInstructional step-by-step guide
- manualWritten instructions for use
how-to · recipe · walkthrough · step-by-step · guidebook · handbook · protocol · directions
you
The person addressed
yourselves · thou · thee · thy · thine · ye · pronoun · singular · plural · possessive
you
The person addressed
ye · y'all · youse · ya · u · ur · direct address · vocative · honorific · formal
protagonist
Story's central figure
- readerOne who peruses text
- player characterUser-controlled game persona
- choose-your-own-adventureStory with reader choices
interactive fiction · point of view · present tense · immersion · self-insert · epistolary · unreliable narrator
imperative
Unavoidably necessary
- commandAuthoritative instruction given
- directiveFormal command or instruction
- tutorialInstructional step-by-step guide
manual · how-to · recipe · walkthrough · step-by-step · guidebook · handbook · protocol · directions · instructions
- narrationvoice-over, narrator, telling, POV, point of view
- inflectionsinflections, plurals, conjugations, declensions, verb forms
- verb agreementsingular, plural, verb ending
- storytellingstorytelling, story, tale, narrative, narrator
- pronounsI, me, him, he, my
- grammar termsnoun, verb, adjective, adverb, pronoun
second personfirst person
Grammatical self-reference perspective
third person · I · he · she · they
second personfirst person
Grammatical self-reference perspective
third person · speaker · narrator · bystander · observer
second, person, secondary, secondhand, seconds, second-rate, seconded, second-class, seconding