Page 117 - Wordsmith A Guide to College Writing

First person is the person speaking, the I or the we. First person
singular, the “I” point of view, is most often used in writing about

personal experience. It is unnecessary and even intrusive in

statements of opinion. For example, write Women should have access

to safe, legal abortions, not I think women should have access to safe,

legal abortions. Unless you are making a statement of fact or citing

someone else’s writing, what you write in your essay is assumed to be
your opinion. The first person plural we should be used only rarely.

Few would argue with a statement such as We can support our troops

even if we do not support the war they are fighting. However, too

pervasive a use of we can alienate readers who may not be willing to

include themselves in a statement like We are destroying the Earth’s

ozone layer because of our greed and our overdependence on fossil
fuels.

Second person is the person spoken to, the you singular or the you

plural. Using you is appropriate in some essays, for instance, a

process essay in which you are telling your reader how to do
something: Keep the pill hidden in your hand as you simultaneously

pick up the cat, kneel on the floor, and slip the cat smoothly between

your legs. You may notice that this textbook is written in second

person. That is because I want to speak directly to you about your

writing, and I don’t want too much distance between us. If I were
writing about weather patterns in Toledo, Ohio, I would use third

person.

Some professors completely ban the use of you in college essays,

and with good reason. Too often, the pronoun is used inappropriately