I use "we" when I refer to my target audience and me or when I am speaking for my group. "We" is always plural. I sense a dishonesty when it is used to create groups of people that do not exist, to imply numbers when there is only one.
Ask HN: I versus We
21–30 of 34 posts
Re: Ask HN: I versus We
#22My writing teachers never let us use "I" in high school, because it is considered poor form by most grammar purists.
I was told this, but only in the context of an essay.
Re: Ask HN: I versus We
#23I think it depends on the attribution. If I see I, but no personal name, it seems weird. If there's a name, and we is used, it should be clear who the other people are.
Re: Ask HN: I versus We
#24>What do you usually do?
One struggles to decide.
Re: Ask HN: I versus We
#25Use "I" when you want to convey something personal; use "we" when you want to convey unity, mutual empathy or some other connection with your team and audience. If it's a close call, a good rule of thumb is to think hard and be honest -- are you referring to yourself or to your team?
Examples:
1) I'd say "I deeply apologize" rather than "we deeply apologize" when I want to be clear about owning responsibility for a corporate failure without hiding behind our corporate outfit.
2) I'd say "We're excited to launch..." to convey a team's hard work, dedication and excitement.
3) I'd say "We all hate having to do foo. That's why we created bar!" to show mutual empathy with our audience and convey that we are trying to solve a problem that "we" all have.
These tips mostly come from a public speaking class that I took, but they've served me very well for writing copy.
Re: Ask HN: I versus We
#26Earlier quoted context omitted.
What an odd thing for them to say. "I" is one of the most common words in the English language. I very much doubt even grammar purists would recommend against it. What's next? "'The' is considered harmful"?
I think the gp was in reference to writing academically, in which case it is often inappropriate to use 'I' as you should be writing in more absolute terms. I never did like that, though, as it makes your writing sound structurally dismissive of alternative viewpoints.
Yes, should have said that this was in reference to essays on academic topics, not all writing in general. Agree that it makes you sound dismissive, but also teaches you how to write objectively and that is a valuable skill, IMHO.
Re: Ask HN: I versus We
#27Neither. Find a way to restructure the sentence to use "you". It's about your audience, not yourself.
Déjà vu ... my Business Writing class in college is actually talking about "you centric" writing right now. Only problem is, everything in the world can't be written in a "you" manner without coming across as spammy or otherwise ill intentioned.
Re: Ask HN: I versus We
#28Another school of thought on this is if you're trying to look bigger than you are, which alot of startups do, "we" might be more appropriate.
Right, and that's exactly why I've had some tell me to use we in articles and other copywriting. But it just doesn't really feel appropriate always ... if you're just one guy writing a blog, seems like you should make it sound that way. I do see the value in projecting the bigger image, but sometimes it seems like down-to-earthness can go a long ways too...
Re: Ask HN: I versus We
#29This article makes an attempt at illustrating that more often thant not, using the first-person-singular can also be an indicator of respect and boundary-maintenance to others:
Re: Ask HN: I versus We
#30One often thinks of the word "I" when one stumbles upon Martha Stewart on television. The rate at which she uses the word is remarkable. One can't help but believe its uses is intentional or at least consistent with her marketing strategy. Has anyone else noticed this? Or, are we being overly sensitive as we quickly change the channel, resolving to use the word less often than Martha?