Avoid addressing readers as "you."

Formal Voice: Full Article

Table of Contents

1.        Formal Writing Voice

2.       Do not use first-person pronouns

3.       Avoid addressing readers as "you."

4.       Avoid the use of contractions

5.       Avoid Colloquialism and Slang

6.       Inaccurate Word Choice: Non-Standard

7.       Avoid abbreviated words

8.      AVOID overuse of short and simple sentences

9.       Final Comments

3.  Avoid addressing readers as "you."

Addressing readers using second-person pronouns ("you, your") can make an essay sound informal and can bring assumptions into an essay that are not true. A student once wrote in her essay, "If you wear a tube top, guys might think that you are easy." I wondered why the student would think that I, a male, would wear a tube top. 

As with first-person pronouns, second-person pronouns can be replaced by words such as "one," "the reader," "readers," and "the viewer."

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Copyright by Randy Rambo, 2018.

Reposted by J. Dick

This is not my content.  This is posted as an option for students to have easy access to concepts through my classroom.  If you use the content above, be certain to credit Randy Rambo for his intellectual creation, and credit this site and link for its reposting of the material.