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English 1b3 Posted 14 years ago
Grammar
Switching between first and third person narrative
Hi guys- hopefully an interesting topic for you...
When creating an info brochure, say for example about a franchise wanting to acquire new franchisees, can the narrative change between first and third person? I have seen this in such documents before, but I know not to take this as solid proof.
Example:
Esquires Coffee Houses is an international brand founded in Canada in 1963.
And further down the page...
Esquires Coffee Houses is highly recognisable. Our stores are situated in the best possible locations and are individually designed to provide Esquires' customers with a vibrant, friendly environment committed to superior quality and value. We offer comfortable seating...
And if you were to write about what someone else said about the franchise, what person do you use then? Can you switch as shown in the below example?
The judges of the Franchise Awards believed Esquires Coffee Houses demonstrated effective work systems... The judges were also impressed by our innovative approaches...
Thank you
When creating an info brochure, say for example about a franchise wanting to acquire new franchisees, can the narrative change between first and third person? I have seen this in such documents before, but I know not to take this as solid proof.
Example:
Esquires Coffee Houses is an international brand founded in Canada in 1963.
And further down the page...
Esquires Coffee Houses is highly recognisable. Our stores are situated in the best possible locations and are individually designed to provide Esquires' customers with a vibrant, friendly environment committed to superior quality and value. We offer comfortable seating...
And if you were to write about what someone else said about the franchise, what person do you use then? Can you switch as shown in the below example?
The judges of the Franchise Awards believed Esquires Coffee Houses demonstrated effective work systems... The judges were also impressed by our innovative approaches...
Thank you
Top answer
First, switching persons is generally not good, but using 'it' above instead of 'we', etc, would sound terribly inhuman. Reading carefully, however, I think the text clearly distinguishes between the entity ('ECH') and its human staff ('our'): the singular references (the first 2) are to the brand, while the second 2 references to ECH do not reveal number ('customers', 'demonstrated').
- First, switching persons is generally not good, but using 'it' above instead of 'we', etc, would sound terribly inhuman.
- Reading carefully, however, I think the text clearly distinguishes between the entity ('ECH') and its human staff ('our'): the singular references (the first 2) are to the brand, while the second 2 references to ECH do not reveal number ('customers', 'demonstrated').
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5 Answers
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First, switching persons is generally not good, but using 'it' above instead of 'we', etc, would sound terribly inhuman. Reading carefully, however, I think the text clearly distinguishes between the entity ('ECH') and its human staff ('our'): the singular references (the first 2) are to the brand, while the second 2 references to ECH do not reveal number ('customers', 'demonstrated').
00
MM,
So if we stick to say third person, how do we avoid being repetitive when we have to avoid using 'it'? No solution?
So if we stick to say third person, how do we avoid being repetitive when we have to avoid using 'it'? No solution?
00
Well, it seems to me that you would be just as repetitive there if you used 'it'! But I didn't notice any uncomfortable repetition anyway in that text. Of a total of 7 company references, there are 3 'Esquire Coffee Houses', one 'Esquire's', 2 'ours' and one 'we'. That's 4 terms for 7 references: pretty good!
00
But if there is no option to refer to the people in the company, i.e. 'ours', 'we', etc then we are limited to just 'Esquires Coffee Houses', 'it' and 'its', are we not? That is oen noun and two pronouns possible for an entire brochure...
00
No, if you think you have to choose between 'it' and 'us', it is the same problem. There is nothing wrong with the original text, as I have already said.
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