March 6, 2008

Choose The Right "Person" For Your Audience

A decision that is closely related to active or passive voice is whether you should write in the first person (I, we) or the more impersonal third person (he, she, they). And should you write in the second person (you)?

These questions don't have a single, definite answer. First-person writing encourages the use of the active voice and avoids awkward substitutes for I (such as the author). Third-person writing puts the writer in the background and avoids being over familiar, which may be appropriate in certain writing.

Scientific or technical writings, where the emphasis is on results, usually have an impersonal third-person approach. First-person writing may deviate the reader's attention from the message to the messenger.

Other kinds of writing may require for the more friendly, human tone of first-person writing. This post is an example of first and second-person writing. What I present here is my advice, and I'm talking to you! Let the nature of the writing and of the audience determine your choice.