Post History

Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/q/4094
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

 **Background:** My understanding about first person / third person is this: choose a voice and maintain it throughout the piece. However, when writing marketing-type information, I find myself switching back and forth between 1st ("we", "our") and 3rd ("ABC Organization", "The Organization"). I like to use 1st person because it feels personal and informal, but using third person allows me to (a) avoid sounding like I am bragging[1], (b) reconnect the reader with our name, and (c) speak about our historical activities -- the "we" now were not part of the "we" in 1980. (When I do this, I don't ever call the organization "it" and then switch back to "we" or "our")

**The question is:** Is it absolutely unacceptable to do this? Is this a matter of opinion, or a generally accepted rule among writers?

**Examples:**

- **ABC** is in the process of expanding **our** monitoring and evaluation plan.
- **ABC** is a relief and development organization established in 1973. **Our** mission is to...

[1] Saying "we do this awesome thing" and "we completed this awesome project" too often conveys an arrogant mentality.

Original score: 7