Grammar girl here, if you've ever studied a second language or even spent time with a

literature teacher who was fond of grammar, you've probably encountered the terms first,

second, and third person.

But where do they come from and how do you remember which is which?

Let's start with an imaginary universe containing just one person all alone.

Now this poor lonely stick figure wants to say something, but it can only talk about things

that are present in its universe.

That doesn't leave it with a lot of options.

The only thing our stick figure can talk about is itself.

So the lonely stick figure can say hi, I'm a stick figure, and I wish I had some food

because my stomach is starting to growl.

It can even say happier things, such as look at me, I'm the coolest stick figure in the

whole wide world.

But what it can't say is anything about any other people because there's only one person

in this whole imaginary universe.

There's only one person to talk about, so all the talking has to happen in the first

person, using pronouns such as I, me, and my.

What happens if we make our very simple universe a little more interesting by giving stick figure

number one a friend?

Now we have two stick figures and there is so much more they can talk about.

In addition to all the stuff that the solitary stick figure was able to say about itself,

now each of our two stick figures can say things about the other person.

...