Using "You" In Stories

Have avoided since high school English when our teacher NEVER let us use it in anything we wrote. Basically her reasoning was the same - it's lazy, not necessary, etc. I can see where it might work in some cases, but I always find other ways to say the same thing.

 

When done properly, it engages the reader, which is a good thing. When not done properly, it's lazy and cliched.

 

And I'd say it is rarely ever done properly.

 

wholeheartedly agree. I know of one guy who used it in 99 percent of his ledes. He was recently taken off his pro beat and made a copy editor.

 

here's one i can't stand ... well as an interjection

i see this constantly ... what a lousy device

"And the only way for that to happen is, well, to actually give him more playing time."

bleh

 

I suppose the alternative is to use "one," and I always found that to be a bit stuffy ...

 

"Have you ever seen a one-legged dog making its way down the street? ... If you've ever seen a one-legged dog than you've seen me."

 

There are two then/than mistakes on this thread. Some common grammatical mishaps I understand. Then/than is not one of them.

 

S.O.B. I'm one of them.

Dammit, Bruce.

 

I think it can work.

Ex:

If you were one of the hundreds of fans who left Podunk HS gym with the Plodders down 10 with a minute to go last night, you missed a remarkable comeback.




Nah, just kidding. They still lost.

 

Didn't mean to call you out, Bullwinkle. Just one of my pet peeves, and it jumped out at me that there were two such mistakes on the same one-page thread.

 

you know.