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>> INSTRUCTOR: So this video is going to talk about point of view.
Generally speaking, when your teacher tells you that you have a problem with point of view,
they're telling you that you probably have a problem with person (first, second, and third),
or a problem with number (singular or plural).
So we're going to talk about all of this in this video.
First thing to remember: first person includes the pronouns "I," "we," "me," "us," "my,"
"mine," and "our."
Second person [is] all your "you"s: "you," and "your," and "yours."
And then third person has "he," "she," "it," "they," "him," "her," "it," "them,"
and then "his," "hers," "its," and "theirs."
So those are all the pronouns broken down by person.
Now, first person: when you write in first person, it has some definite benefits.
First of all, it gives you authority. Why? Because it's very personal.
You are telling the story; it's immediate.
There are also some negatives to first person. Can I trust you?
I don't know; it's a little too personal sometimes.
Maybe you're biased. That's what "I" will do for you.
Now, if you're going to write in second person, there are also some benefits here.
You are speaking directly to your audience, and that's always good:
you are saying, "you do this, you do that." But that can also be a negative
because you are essentially prescribing emotion or an action to your audience.
You are telling them "you do this." Well, what if they don't do that? Then it's not going to work.
Now, third person is generally the academic standard: that's what you want to be writing in.
It's considered unbiased and neutral. Now, there are some downsides to that
because sometimes you're just too distant from your topic in third person,
and it makes telling a personal story really difficult.
So, each of the persons has certain benefits and certain negatives associated with it.
Now to the question you're probably asking yourself:
How can I revise my point of view problems so I don't get this circled on my paper again?
Well, the key here is to just be consistent. You want to pick a person and stick with it.
So, if you start with first person, stay in first. If you start with second,
although I don't know why you would, stay in second. And if you're in third, stay in third.
Unless you have a compelling reason to shift around, don't change your person.
Now, let me show you here an example of why you would change person.
Let's look at this sentence: if you say,
"Peter was home when you got there so I made dinner."
Think about that for a minute.
Technically, "Peter" is third person, "you" is second, and "I" is first.
You have three different persons here, but it logically makes sense:
you're talking about three different people.
The problem here is when you have a shift in point of view that leads to confusion
that causes the reader to not understand what it is that you mean.
Let me show you what I mean here. If you say something like,
"Students should be allowed to make our own choices about the food plan —
you can't tell me what I want to eat and when!"
Okay, this is kind of confusing because I have "students" that's third,
"our" is first, "you" is second, "me" is first, and "I" is first.
Alright, so this needs to match. So, I can say,
"Students should be allowed to make their own choices about the food plan"
and then maybe something like, "administration can't tell them what they want to eat and when."
So, really, the important thing to remember here is to pick a person
that makes sense to you, the appropriate person,
and just stick with it and be consistent throughout.