Replacing the word you in an essay

Learning how to write an essay without using ‘I’, ‘We’ or ‘You’, and other personal languages can be challenging for students. The best writing skills recommend not to use such pronouns. In this guide, we explore how to replace ‘I’, ‘We’, or ‘You’ in an essay and the methods to avoid them.

For those of us who have been able to overcome this, you will agree that there was a time when you experienced a challenge when finding alternatives to clauses such as “I will argue” or “I think”.

The good thing is that there are several methods of communicating your point, and writing an essay without using ‘I’ or related personal language,.

Why avoid using Pronouns in formal writing

Before we identify the methods of communicating without using personal language like “I”, it is best to know why we should avoid such language while writing essays.

The most important reason for avoiding such language is because it is not suitable in formal writing such as essays. Appropriate professional English should not include any form of personal pronouns or language.

The second and equally important reason to avoid using personal language while writing an essay is to sound impersonal, functional, and objective.

In formal English, personal pronouns conflict with the idea of being impersonal, functional, and objective because they make redundant references to the writer and other people.

Personal pronouns will make an essay seem to contain only the perspectives of the writer and others they have deliberately selected. Again, they will make the work appear subjective.

Another reason to avoid personal language while coming up with an essay is to avoid sounding as if you have an urgent need to impress the reader through wording.

Personal pronouns like “you” and “I” tend to suggest something important that is away from what the writing is all about.

By continually using “I”, “we”, or “you”, you are taking the reader’s attention from the essay to other personal issues. The essay becomes all about the writer. 

That being said, let’s explore how to replace “I” in an essay.

Ways of Avoiding Pronouns “I”, “You” and “We” in an Essay

You can replace the pronouns ‘I’, ‘You’, and ‘We’ by replacing them with acceptable wording, applying passive voice instead of pronouns, Using a third-person perspective, adopting an objective language, and including strong verbs and adjectives.

In our other guide, we explained the best practices to avoid using ‘you’ in essay writing, and use academically sound words. Let us explore each of these strategies in detail.

1. Replacing it with an acceptable wording

This is a very good strategy for replacing “I” in an essay. The problem is that it is often difficult to find the right word to replace the personal pronoun. Though this is the case “I” has some alternatives.

For example, if the verb that follows it revolves around writing and research such as “…will present” or “…have described”, it is best to replace “I” with text-referencing nouns such as “the essay.”

If you wanted to say “I will present”, or “I have described”, then the alternative will be “the essay will present”, or “as described in the essay.”

Another method of replacing “I” in an essay is using appropriate wording like “this writer” if the verb’s action is not within the text.

While this is sometimes acceptable, it is often advised to have no words here by using passive verbs or their equivalents.

A wording that may also be used but rarely suitable is “the researcher”. This alternative can only be used when your actions as a writer are completely detached from the writing.

2. Using passive voice instead of pronouns

Another way to replace “I” and other personal pronouns in an essay is to use passive voice. This is achieved by transforming an active verb passive.

Though this is the case, the strategy is often difficult and it may create sentence structures that are not acceptable in formal writing and language.

The sentences in which “I” can be successfully changed using this strategy is when an active verb describing an object is transformed into its passive form. 

3. Using a Third-Person Perspective

This is a very important and applicable strategy when replacing “I” in an essay. This is where you avoid using first-person and second-person perspectives.

When referring to the subject matter, refer directly to them using the third person. For example, if you were to write “I think regular exercise is good for mind and body”, you can replace it with “Regular exercise is good for mind and body”.

4. Use of objective language

Objective language is lost when a person uses informal expressions like colloquialisms, slang, contractions, and clichés. It is the reason why we discourage the use of contractions in essay writing so that you can keep things formal.

While informal language can be applicable in casual writing and speeches, it is not acceptable when writing essays. This is because you will be tempted to use a first-person perspective to convey your message.

5. Being specific and using strong verbs and adjectives

In most cases, essays that have been written using a lot of personal pronouns tend to be imprecise. When you want to avoid using “I” in your essay, try to be exact and straight to the point.

Personal pronouns tend to convey a subjective message and it is up to the writer to explain their perspectives through writing.

Here, a writer will use a lot of “I think…” or “I believe…” to express their opinion. By doing so, the writer will end up wasting a lot of time explaining a concept.

Instead of doing that, it is best to look for appropriate verbs and adjectives to explain the points. Also, use objective language. Refer to the suggestions given by credible evidence instead of basing your arguments on what you think.

Words to use instead of personal pronouns like “You” and “I”

As noted, it is important to avoid using personal pronouns such as “You” and “I” when writing an essay.

By eliminating them or finding alternatives to them, your essay will be formal and objective. You can decide to eliminate them in a sentence.

For example, you could be having a sentence like “I think the author makes a valid point concerning capitalism.”

In this example, you can eliminate the personal language and write “The author makes a valid point concerning capitalism”.

The second sentence goes straight to the point and is objective.

Other words to use instead of personal pronouns like “You” and “I” can be created when personal judgment words are avoided.

Instead, it is best to replace those words with those that refer to the evidence.

Examples of Ways to Replace personal pronouns

Below are examples of how personal judgment words can be replaced by words referring to the evidence.

1. I feel – In light of the evidence
2. From I think – According to the findings
3. I agree – It is evident from the data that
4. I am convinced – Considering the results
5. You can see that – From the results, it is evident that

Using the third-person or “it” constructions can be used to replace personal pronouns like “You” and “I”. Such words also help to reduce the word count of your essay and make it short and precise.

For example, if you are writing “I conclude that”, replace those words with “it could be concluded that”. Here, “it” constructions are helping replace personal pronouns to make the sentence more objective and precise.

To be more specific, words to replace personal pronouns like “I” include “one”, the viewer”, “the author”, “the reader”, “readers”, or something similar.

However, avoid overusing those words because your essay will seem stiff and awkward. For example, if you write “I can perceive the plot’s confusion”, you can replace “I” by writing “Readers can perceive the plot’s confusion”.

Words that can be used instead of personal pronouns like “You” include “one”, “the viewer”, the reader”, “readers”, or any other similar phrases. It is similar to words that replace first-person pronouns.

For example, if you write “you can see that the poet’s tone is serious and urgent”, you can replace “You” by writing “readers/one can see that the poet’s tone is serious and urgent”.

Words to use instead of “My” in an essay

Since “My” demonstrates the possessiveness of something, in this case, the contents or thoughts within an essay, it makes the writing subjective. According to experts, writing should take an objective language. To do this, it is important to replace it.

You can replace the word “My” with “the”. For example, if you write “My final thoughts concerning the issue are”, you can write “The final thoughts concerning the issues are”.

In this case, the article “The” makes the sentence formal and objective.

Another method is to eliminate the word “My” from the sentence to make it more objective and straight to the point.

In the same example above, if you write “My final thoughts concerning the issue are”, you can write “Final thoughts concerning the issue are”.

The major difference here is that the word “my” in the first example makes it subjective and eliminating it from the sentence makes it sound formal and objective.

Final Advice

Therefore, when writing an essay, it is important to avoid personal pronouns like “You”, “I” and “My.” Not all papers use third-person language. Different types of essays are formatted differently, a 5-paragraph essay is different from a 4-page paper, but all use third-person tones.

This is because an essay should be written in formal language and using personal pronouns makes it appear and sound informal. Therefore, writing an essay without using ‘I’ is good.

Formal language makes your essay sound objective and precise. However, do not remove the first person language when writing personal experiences in an essay or a paper. This is because it is acceptable and formal that way.

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“I”, “we” and “you” can be difficult to avoid if a passive verb is not possible

THE IMPORTANCE OF AVOIDING ‘I’, ‘WE’ AND ‘YOU’

The words I, we and you (and equivalent forms like me, my, mine, us and yours) are frequently said to be unsuitable in formal writing. Indeed, the absence of these words, along with various others, is often part of the very definition of this sort of writing (see 166. Appropriacy in Professional English).

The perceived need to avoid words like I, we and you in academic and professional writing also suggests something important about what this kind of writing is not. Academic and professional writers do not try to use impressive wording for its own sake; they only resort to it in order to avoid an undesirable alternative. The over-riding aim, as in most types of writing, is to write as clearly and simply as possible.

The deeper reason that is usually given for avoiding I, we or you in formal English is a need to sound impersonal, objective and functional. These words are felt to conflict with that because they make unnecessary references to particular people. They are suitable only when they stand for some types of I, we or you, such as the writer of a CV or the addressee of an advice leaflet (see 187. Advising and Recommending).

In order to avoid I, we and you, it is necessary to know what substitute language can replace them. This is the same kind of problem as that presented by paraphrasing (see 80. How to Paraphrase). In both cases the solution will often be obvious, but sometimes difficult to see. This discussion concentrates on the difficulty that replacing I, we and you can give when they are the subject of a sentence. For some advice on how to replace them in other sentence positions, see 39. “Decide” or “Make a Decision?”.

For information in this blog about other words to avoid in formal writing, see especially 108. Formal and Informal Words, plus the Learning Materials page under the heading Words to Avoid in Academic Writing. Clicking on “Formal Style” in the CATEGORIES menu on the right of this page will bring up other relevant posts, including the diagnostic 193. A Test of Formal Language Use.

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PROBLEMS IN AVOIDING INFORMAL SUBJECT PRONOUNS

One strategy that is sometimes possible for avoiding an unwanted subject pronoun is replacing it with a more acceptable word. The problem is finding the right one.

I has a small number of alternatives. If its verb is a writing one, such as will describe… or have presented…, then a text-referring noun like this essay or the previous section can replace I. On the other hand, if the verb’s action is outside the text this writer is sometimes possible, though having no word at all through use of a passive verb or equivalent, as outlined below, is usually best. One expression that is very rarely appropriate is the researcher.

Alternatives to we and you also exist in some contexts. We and you meaning “anyone” might be be replaceable by one, someone or people (see 211. General Words for People). You meaning “the reader” can often become the reader or readers.

The pronoun-avoiding strategy that many English courses concentrate on is making the verb passive. Yet in surprisingly many cases this strategy is not possible. The following sentences (except the first) illustrate a range of situations that rule it out.

(a) I will describe three main categories.

(b) I was affected in three different ways.

(c) I proceeded (a little later).

(d) I became a group member.

(e) I want first to provide some background.

(f) I enjoyed sampling the product.

(g) I know that the problem is not solved.

(h) I contend that reading helps grammar learning.

The reason why only (a) can avoid I by means of a standard verb change from active to passive (Three main categories will be described) is that only it possesses the requirements for such a change: an active verb (will describe) with an object (categories − for details of objects, see 8. Object-Dropping Errors).

In sentence (b), a change from active to passive is not possible because the verb with I is already passive (was affected). In the others, although the verb with I is active, there is no object. Sentence (c) has an active verb with nothing at all after it, or just the adverb phrase a little later. In (d), there is a noun after the verb (group member), but it is a complement rather than an object (it refers to the subject). The other sentences all have another verb after the one with I. In (e) this verb is in the infinitive form (to provide), in (f) it has -ing, while in (g) and (h) it is in an ordinary statement after that.

Yet all of these problem structures can be altered so as to avoid the undesirable I. Even sentence (a) can be altered without using a passive verb: instead of will be described it could have a different verb in the active voice, such as follow (see 27. How to Avoid Passive Verbs) or there are (see 161. Special Uses of “There” Sentences). The rest of this post is about structural changes for avoiding unwanted pronouns in sentences like (b)–(h).

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OTHER WAYS TO AVOID UNWANTED PRONOUNS

1. When the Verb is Already Passive or Lacks an Object

In this situation – sentences (b) and (c) above – the most useful strategy appears to be to change the verb into a related noun (see 131. Uses of “Action” Nouns, #3). Here are sentences (b) and (c) after this change (with the relevant nouns underlined): 

(b1) Three different effects were felt.

(c1) The procedure was performed (a little later). 

Finding a related noun (or a synonym of one) is not so difficult (see 249. Action Noun Endings); a greater challenge is often finding the verb to go with it, especially since some appropriate verbs are quite idiomatic partners of the chosen noun (see 173. “Do Research” or “Make Research”?). For further examples of this way to avoid informal pronouns, see 39. “Decide” or “Make a Decision”?.

If the subject of the sentence lacks the (as in b1) there + BE is often another possibility (There were three…). For more, see 161. Special Uses of “There” Sentences).

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2. When the Verb Has a Complement

A complement is a noun, pronoun or adjective that is matched by a verb to an earlier noun or pronoun (see 220. Features of Complements). For example, in (d) above the complement a group member matches I – they are the same person. Complements can often be recognised from the verbs they follow: BECOME, BE and a few others. In addition to (d) above, the following all contain a complement: 

(i) I became uncomfortable.

(j) I felt proud.

(k) I was a supervisor. 

These sentences can be paraphrased without I like this: 

(d1) Group membership was taken up.

(i1) Discomfort was felt/There was discomfort.

(j1)  (A feeling of) pride was experienced.

(k1) A supervisory position was held. 

Generalizing from these is difficult, but the main tendency seems to be to make the complement into the subject of the new sentence, rather as we do with objects. Adjective complements (uncomfortable, proud) become related nouns (discomfort, pride), whereas noun complements (a group member, a supervisor) often need to be slightly changed (in these examples the meaning of “status” or “position” or “role” needs to be added).

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3. When the Verb Has another Verb Soon After

A very useful avoidance strategy here is to begin with it and a form of BE. Compare the following with the original sentences above: 

(e1) It is necessary first TO PROVIDE some background.

(f1) It was enjoyable SAMPLING/TO SAMPLE the product.

(g1) It is recognised that the problem IS not SOLVED.

(h1) It can be contended that reading HELPS grammar learning.

The second verb in such sentences (capitalised) sometimes has to, sometimes -ing and sometimes that… (see 103. Representing a Later Statement with “It”). Before to or -ing, an alternative to an I verb – I want and I enjoyed in (e) and (f) above – is often it is/was + the I verb’s related adjective: necessary and enjoyable in (e1) and (f1).

Before that…, however, a passive verb often seems the best choice after a starting it, though one could instead use BE + a “truth” adjective like acceptable, arguable, certain, clear, (in)correct, definite, likely, possible, probable and (un)true. Truth adjectives are especially useful for agreeing or disagreeing without saying I (dis)agree (see 152. Agreeing and Disagreeing in Formal Contexts).

Using a passive verb after it in order to avoid I sometimes necessitates is, as in (g1), and sometimes can be, as in (h1). Using can be when is is needed is likely to sound strange; using is when can be is needed gives the wrong meaning: not “by me” but either “by everyone” (see 22. Multiple Speakers in a Text) or “by me elsewhere” (a common use in abstracts, which report content rather than develop it).

How can one know whether to use is or can be when avoiding I with a non-reporting passive verb? The choice seems to depend on the partner verb. RECOGNISE is a thought verb, CONTEND a speech one. Other thought verbs that, like RECOGNISE, usually have is to mean “by me” include BELIEVE, CONSIDER, DEEM, EXPECT, FEEL, HOLD, HOPE and KNOW. An exception is THINK – is thought is always reporting (and cannot have can be instead of is).

Speech verbs that, like CONTEND, need can be to develop a point without using I commonly express particular types of meaning. Some resemble CONTEND (e.g. ARGUE, CONSIDER, MAINTAIN, CLAIM), some are naming (CALL, DUB, NAME, REFER TO), some are exemplifying (EXEMPLIFY, ILLUSTRATE), some are classifying (CATEGORISE, CLASSIFY, DIVIDE, SEPARATE, SPLIT), and one (DEFINE) is defining (see 237. Auxiliary Verbs in Professional Communication, #4).

Many sentences that allow it can also be written with there + BE + NOUN (see 161. Special Uses of “There” Sentences, #4). This is certainly true of sentences (e1), (f1) and (g1), which could respectively begin There is a need…, There was enjoyment… and There is recognition…. Note how a need is preferred to a necessity. The negative There is no need to… is also common.

Sentences like (h1) could also begin there is an argument…, though this is probably more often used for reporting a contention than simply making one.

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