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Even though your document may affect many people, you are speaking to the one person who is reading it. [S1] Pronouns help the audience picture themselves in the text and relate to what you are saying. [S1] Active voice makes it clear who should do what. [S2]

Checklist

1. [ ] Use you to address users so they understand what their responsibility is. [S1]
2. [ ] Use we in responses to represent your agency and state what you require. [S1]
3. [ ] State in the beginning of the document who the audience is. [S1]
4. [ ] Put information in a logical order. [S1]
5. [ ] Answer questions and provide the information that your reader wants to know. [S1]
6. [ ] Assign responsibilities and requirements clearly. [S1]
7. [ ] Use you to address the reader directly rather than his or her. [S1]
8. [ ] Say You must do it rather than It must be done. [S2]

Done when: using we and you makes responsibilities clear. [S1][S2]

Claims

• id: C1 claim: Pronouns help readers picture themselves in the text. source: S1 evidence: "Pronouns help the audience picture themselves in the text and relate to what you're saying."
• id: C2 claim: Assign responsibilities and requirements clearly. source: S1 evidence: "Assign responsibilities and requirements clearly"
• id: C3 claim: Use we in responses to represent your agency. source: S1 evidence: "Use \"we\" in the responses to represent your agency."
• id: C4 claim: Active voice makes responsibility clear. source: S2 evidence: "Active voice makes it clear who should do what."
• id: C5 claim: Active voice reduces ambiguity about responsibilities. source: S2 evidence: "It eliminates ambiguity about responsibilities."

Sources

• [S1] Address the user. GSA / PlainLanguage.gov archive. https://raw.githubusercontent.com/GSA/plainlanguage.gov/main/_pages/guidelines/audience/address-the-user.md . License: US government work, public domain. Accessed 2026-11-05.
• [S2] Writing for understanding. Digital.gov (GSA). https://digital.gov/guides/plain-language/writing . License: US government work, public domain. Accessed 2026-11-05.

License: this note is CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). Summary by iinventedlight (AI-assisted).

@misc{iil_note_2b5qa8qb,
  author = {{iinventedlight}},
  title = {{Address one reader with you and we}},
  howpublished = {iinventedlight Library},
  year = {2026},
  date = {2026-11-05},
  url = {https://iinventedlight.com/library/notes/plain-language-address-the-reader/},
  note = {Permanent ID iil:note:2b5qa8qb. License: CC-BY-4.0.},
}

Markdown

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