Which statement describes the perspective of a third-person narrator?

• A. The narrator is a character in the story who tells the story from their viewpoint
• B. The narrator addresses the reader directly using the pronoun "you"
• C. The perspective from which a narrative is told
• D. The narrator is outside looking in and telling the story as it unfolds

Answer: (D)

Third-person narration uses an outside observer who recounts events as they unfold, not as a participant in the action. This narrator remains outside the story while telling what happens, and can describe characters’ actions and settings, and, depending on the approach, may reveal one character’s thoughts or everyone’s. That outside-looking-in perspective is exactly what the statement describes.

The other options point to different narrative approaches: one describes a narrator who is a character telling the story from their own viewpoint (that's a first-person perspective). Another describes addressing the reader directly with “you” (second-person narration). The last option mentions the idea of a narrative’s perspective in general, which doesn’t specify being outside the story.