Third person omniscient writing: ‘The Execution of Lady Jane Grey’ as stimulus
I can plan a well-structured piece of descriptive writing inspired by a painting ('The Execution of Lady Jane Grey') which employs a third person omniscient narrator.
Third person omniscient writing: ‘The Execution of Lady Jane Grey’ as stimulus
I can plan a well-structured piece of descriptive writing inspired by a painting ('The Execution of Lady Jane Grey') which employs a third person omniscient narrator.
These resources will be removed by end of Summer Term 2025.
Lesson details
Key learning points
- A third person omniscient narrator can move between the thoughts, feelings and experiences of all characters.
- Paragraphs can allow us to signal shifts in focus to a different character.
- To structure your piece, your first and final paragraph could focus on the same character.
- To further structure your piece, you could link the concluding sentence of paragraphs to the next topic sentence.
Keywords
Third person limited - the narrator isn’t a character in the story and presents the feelings and experiences of one character using pronouns like 'she', 'he', 'they', 'it'
Third person omniscient - the narrator isn’t a character in the story and presents the feelings and experiences of multiple characters using pronouns like 'she', 'he', 'they', 'it'
Sumptuous - expensive looking, luxurious, rich
Common misconception
A third person omniscient narrator must develop each character in the same amount of detail.
Whilst a third person omniscient narrator can develop many characters, they don't need the same amount of space, detail and time in a written piece. You can still have a central character, and minor characters who are more or less important.
To help you plan your year 8 english lesson on: Third person omniscient writing: ‘The Execution of Lady Jane Grey’ as stimulus, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs...
To help you plan your year 8 english lesson on: Third person omniscient writing: ‘The Execution of Lady Jane Grey’ as stimulus, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs.
The starter quiz will activate and check your pupils' prior knowledge, with versions available both with and without answers in PDF format.
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The assessment exit quiz will test your pupils' understanding of the key learning points.
Our video is a tool for planning, showing how other teachers might teach the lesson, offering helpful tips, modelled explanations and inspiration for your own delivery in the classroom. Plus, you can set it as homework or revision for pupils and keep their learning on track by sharing an online pupil version of this lesson.
Explore more key stage 3 english lessons from the Myths, legends and stories that inspire unit, dive into the full secondary english curriculum, or learn more about lesson planning.
Content guidance
- Depiction or discussion of sensitive content
- Depiction or discussion of violence or suffering
Supervision
Adult supervision recommended
Licence
Lesson video
Starter quiz
6 Questions
the narrator is a character in the story, using pronouns like 'I'
the narrator is speaking directly to the reader, using 'you'
the narrator isn't a character in the story; 'her', 'he', 'it', 'they'
describing something still (often water or air) that smells bad
kind, gentle, caring
to bottle up or hide an emotion
Exit quiz
6 Questions
introduces the main focus of your paragraph
notes on vocabulary, techniques and ideas you will include
completes your ideas and leads onto the next paragraph