Audience

Depending on the purpose of your writing, your audience may change. As your audience changes, the language that you use, especially the pronouns you use, in your writing should also change. For example, when telling a personal story in a letter, you will utilize a lot of personal pronouns such as "I" or "me." In contrast, when writing instructions for how to do something, you would use pronouns like "you" to address the person following the instructions.

There are three main types of audience: first-person, second-person, and third-person.

First-Person Pronouns

Contexts: personal story, letter, journal

Second-Person Pronouns

Contexts: instructions, steps

Second-Person Pronouns

Contexts: third-person story, academic

Things to Remember

You vs. Your

"You" is the subject/object pronoun and does not come before nouns. "Your" is a possessive pronoun and is placed before a noun.

For example:

You should always ask someone to read over your essay before submitting it.

You, in the example sentence, is referring to the subject of the sentence, the person who should be having their paper read over.

Your, on the other hand, is connected to the noun essay. It is showing that the essay is the possession of the subject, you, in the sentence.

Pronoun Reference

Your pronouns need to stay the same. If you start with one pronoun, you should not change it. Also, make sure your pronoun matches the noun it refers to.