Points of View: First, Second, and Third Person

Points of View: First, Second, and Third Person

A Writing Center Workshop

            The term point of view refers to the set of pronouns a writer uses. In this workshop, we will cover:

1. Lists of pronouns for first, second, and third person points of view
2. When to use specific points of view
3. How to avoid mixing points of view in your writing
4. How to avoid pronoun-antecedent mismatches

 Lists of pronouns for each point of view:

First-person pronouns

Singular          I           me       my      mine

Plural              we       us        our      ours

Second-person pronouns

Singular          you     your    yours

Plural              you     your    yours

Third-person pronouns

Singular          he        him     his       she      her      hers     it          its

Plural              they    them   their    theirs

When to use each point of view:

First-person point of view

            First-person is typically used in narrative writing. If your professor asks you to write a narrative essay, this means the content of the essay will be based on your personal experience. Some professors may also ask you to write descriptive essays from your own (first-person) point of view. Application and scholarship essays are typically written in first-person point of view as well.

         

Avoid the use of “we” and “our” to refer to general humanity in your essays. For instance, a statement like, “We all need to be concerned about global warming” is not appropriate for most academic, college-level essays because it makes an assumption about the audience. In fact, you should be directing your writing toward a potential audience instead of assuming the audience already shares your point of view.

Second-person point of view

            Second-person is not typically used in academic essays because it addresses the audience directly. This can be problematic when you are trying to convince the audience to accept your point of view; using “you” can sometimes backfire and turn the audience against the writer. Additionally, the use of second-person sounds informal, and college-level writing is traditionally formal. You will notice that this handout is written in second-person because it is addressing an audience directly.

            Avoid the use of “you” when asking questions of your audience. While asking questions can sometimes be an appropriate writing tactic, doing so without using “you” is rather difficult.

Third-person point of view

            Third-person is the most common point of view in academic writing. In college, you are getting acclimated to writing for an intelligent audience that expects you to explicitly support your thesis.

            Avoid the use of vague pronouns like “they” and “it” when a specific pronoun is not used in your sentence. For instance, “They say that education is less effective when students are disinterested” has a vague pronoun reference because the audience does not know who “they” are. Replace vague pronouns with specific nouns, such as “Researchers” or “Administrators” for the previous example.

How to avoid mixing points of view

a.                  Name your audience: When writers are unsure of their audience, changes in point of view can happen easily. Come up with a specific name for your audience members that allows you to address them specifically, like “vacationers,” “Montgomery College students,” or “investment bankers.”

b.                 Identify the essay’s purpose: The type of essay you are writing can affect the point of view you use. As mentioned above, a narrative or descriptive essay may be written in first-person. A business memo may address someone directly, so second-person would be appropriate. A persuasive or informative essay will like address an audience formally, in which case, third-person should be used.

How to avoid pronoun-antecedent mismatches

Just like subjects and verbs, nouns and pronouns also need to agree. A pronoun-antecedent mismatch (PAM) occurs when a pronoun is plural and an antecedent is singular or vice versa. Look out for PAMs because they are common in spoken English! Here is an example: “Everyone has to take care of their own children.” Everyone is a singular indefinite pronoun, while their is a plural pronoun; therefore, this is a PAM. An appropriate revision would be, “Everyone has to take care of his or her own children” or “People have to take care of their own children.”

a.                  Use plural nouns. One way to avoid PAMs is by simply using plural nouns like “students,” “writers,” “people,” and “researchers.”

b.                 Familiarize yourself with singular indefinite pronouns. Knowing which pronouns are considered singular will also help you to avoid PAMs.

Singular Indefinite Pronouns

each                            anyone                                   anybody                                anything

either                          everyone                               everybody                           everything

neither                        someone                                somebody                             something

one                              no one                                    nobody                                  nothing

EXERCISE: TEST WHAT YOU’VE LEARNED                                                                          

Rewrite the following sentences to stay in the same point of view or to avoid a PAM.

1. One of my favorite places to vacation is the beach because you can bask in the sun and float on the waves.
2. Students should be allowed to manage the bookstore in order to gain the real-life job experience we need.
3. You often have to change your plans in life, which is one of the most important lessons my professor taught the class.
4. Neither of my mom’s sisters knows what they are doing.
5. Several of the local charities donate to its residents.
6. Sue’s driver’s license was about to expire, but by the time she arrived, they were closed.
7. It is smart to take notes in class so you can study them later.
8. Everybody should just mind their own business!

Revise the following sentences to be appropriate for a formal academic essay.  

1. We can see that polar bears have taken the brunt of the global warming problem.
2. So remember, when deciding for whom to vote, you must always consider their voting record.