Consistent Person: Who's You?
When writing a paper, you should avoid the use of you.
The one exception to this rule is that, when you are writing
a process paper in which you are giving instructions (as I'm doing
now), you may use you.
The reason for this is that, when you give directions (or
orders) to someone, you say something like "pour the sauce over
the chicken." Because you are speaking directly to the
person, you don't have to say, "You, pour the sauce over the
chicken." The you is understood. This
is an imperative sentence (an order). However, when you
write out the directions, you need to be a bit more formal
because imperatives are rarely used in academic writing.
Thus, you will write, "You need to pour the sauce over the
chicken." It's clear that you is the person
holding the sauce.
In other kinds of writing, however, the you is
less clear. Suppose you write about a trip to San
Francisco:
I went to San Francisco last week.
You couldn't believe the people you
saw on the streets there. Some of them were really
strange. You get a little nervous at times.
OK! Who's you? Did you take someone with you?
Are you addressing that person? If so, why didn't that
person see the same thing? What you probably REALLY mean
to say is this:
I went to San Francisco last weekend.
I couldn't believe the people I
saw on the streets there. Some of them were really
strange. I got a little nervous at times.
The next time you write, you should take the time to go
through your paper, circle every you, your,
yours, and ask yourself, "Who's you?" and
then change the words to whatever is more accurate.
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