Grade 7 · English

Grade 7 English

Grade 7 English looks at how a story is told, not just what happens in it: who the narrator is, what they know, and what that does to the reader. Writing turns into short essays with evidence. Here is what it covers, where kids usually get stuck, and one way to help.

What your child learns this year

Every curriculum words it differently, but most grade 7 classes cover the same ground:

  • Point of view. First and third person, and how much the narrator knows.
  • Theme and character. How a writer builds a character and a message over a whole novel.
  • Essays. A clear claim, paragraphs with evidence from the text, and explanation of that evidence.
  • Non-fiction and media. Spotting bias and persuasion in articles, ads and videos.
  • Research. Using more than one source and saying where information came from.

Where kids usually get stuck

  1. 1Mixing up actions and thoughts. A narrator who describes what everyone does isn't all-knowing. Getting inside more than one character's head is what counts.
  2. 2Thinking the “I” in a story is the author. A first-person narrator is a character the author made up, with their own view of events.
  3. 3Retelling instead of explaining. An answer that repeats what happened, without saying what it shows, earns little.

One of Pip's tricks

How many minds?

Use it when a story is told in the third person and you need to say whether the narrator is limited or omniscient.

  1. Find every place the narrator tells you what a character thinks or feels inside.
  2. Only ever inside one character's head: third-person limited. Inside nobody's head: an objective narrator, like a camera.
  3. Inside two or more characters' heads in the same scene: third-person omniscient, all-knowing. (A book that switches heads only at a new chapter is limited, one character at a time.)
  4. Then ask what that choice lets you know, or keeps from you.

Watch it work. “Dev was sure the coach hated him. Across the gym, Coach Laval was thinking that Dev was the hardest worker on the team.” We hear Dev's thought and the coach's thought. Two minds means the narrator is omniscient, and it lets the reader know something Dev doesn't.

Why it works: a limited narrator stays inside one character, so you only learn what that character knows, while an omniscient narrator can enter any mind. Counting the minds tells you which.

Try three

Tap a choice to see if it is right, with the reason.

  1. 1.“Dev was sure the coach hated him. Across the gym, Coach Laval was thinking that Dev had real talent.” The narrator knows…

  2. 2.“Dev was sure the coach hated him. He could not tell what the coach was thinking.” The narrator is…

  3. 3.Why does it matter how many minds the narrator shows?

How Sparkpip fits in

Pip, Sparkpip's tutor, works through texts and questions like these with your child one small step at a time, using tricks like the one above.

Start freeSee how it works

Your curriculum

Sparkpip is built on the grade 7 English curriculum for your province or state. The official pages:

Also: Grade 6 English · Grade 8 English · Grade 7 math · Grade 7 science