“Me, myself, and I; writing in the first person”

No longer are you forced to use the passive voice, as in "A decision must be made by Friday." No longer are you stuck with cold, distant constructions, such as "It is necessary to make a decision by Friday."

No longer are you compelled to use awkward substitutions, such as "One must decide by Friday" or "This manager must decide by Friday"—anything, apparently, to avoid the dreaded "I" word. You are now free to write, simply, "I must decide by Friday."

It’s a wonderful freedom, this access to the first person pronoun. It enables you to present your thoughts directly, to create a personal tone, to convey personality.

But with freedom comes responsibility.

Here are some guidelines to help you determine when writing in the first person might be too much of a good thing. Avoid using "I" or "we" as your subject:

*When you risk creating the impression that you are "I-centered." Using too many "I’s" suggests that you are more interested in yourself than your reader. Because we live in an "I-centered" society, we tend to overuse the first person in our writing. To guard against this, check the first sentence in each paragraph. If every paragraph begins with "I," you probably have created an "I-centered" impression.

*When you are not the true subject of the sentence. When you catch yourself writing, "I had three customers call me this week to complain about late delivery," ask yourself, "What am I doing in this sentence?" The answer: nothing. "I" doesn’t belong there. Begin the sentence with its true subject: "Three customers called me this week to complain about late delivery."

How would you revise this sentence: "This month we had several taxpayers call to complain about not receiving the correct S/T forms"?

*When you want to remove yourself from a delicate situation. Life offers us enough awkward situations without our jumping into the middle of things unnecessarily. Keep the focus off yourself and on the problem. Rather than "I have a problem with your coming in late every morning," write "Your coming in late every morning is causing problems for the office." Rather than "I thought the tone of your letter was condescending," write "The tone of your letter seemed condescending."

*When calling attention to yourself detracts from your message. In persuasive writing, an objective voice is often more effective than a subjective one. Compare, for example, "Taxation without representation is unjust" to "I think it’s unjust to tax us when we’re not even represented."

How would you revise these sentences: "Since the rental car and hotel were only $250 of the package, I don’t understand the charge of $650"; "I seriously doubt that cooking on the grill damaged the paint on the garage"?

*When you want to emphasize the reader’s interests rather than your own. This is called writing from the "you perspective." It involves focusing on your reader’s interests rather than your own. Compare, for example, "I need you to return these forms to me by January 15, so I can process your payroll documents" to "To receive your first paycheck on February 1, you need to return these forms to me by January 15."