Writing

C. You and Me. Formal language works best when it appears to be impersonal, driven not by opinion but fact. That entails creating distance between the reader and the writer, in that such a posture makes a statement seem more objective.

1. Among other things, objectivity precludes the use of personal pronouns like "you" and "yours" which bring reader and writer into direct contact. This also includes imperative (command) forms which imply "you." Examples of such imperative forms are "Remember how important it is . . .," "Bear in mind that this is true . . .," "Take for example . . ." and "Note the ways in which Sophocles uses character . . ."

2. For the same reason, "I/me/my" and "we/us/our" should also be avoided as much as possible.