Reader address is how you speak to the audience: you, we, or a third-person group such as students. Consistent address means you pick one and keep it from the opening to the last sentence. The skill matters in every piece in articles and reviews, because a steady voice makes the whole article sound planned.
Why does drifting happen?
When you write quickly, you pick whichever pronoun comes first in each sentence. One sentence says you, the next says people, the next says one. Each choice is correct alone, but together they sound as if different people wrote the piece.
The fix is not advanced grammar. It is a decision made before you write and a check made after.
How do you keep the address steady, step by step?
- Decide the address. For a teen magazine, you is usually the most natural.
- Write a reminder at the start of your plan. For example: “Address: you. Register: friendly.”
- Draft the piece. Use imperatives such as “Arrive early” freely, because they are addressed to you too.
- Scan the pronouns. Underline every you, we, one, people, students and visitors.
- Fix the odd ones out. Change each to match your decision, then check that verbs and possessives (your, our) still agree.
Worked example
Here is a draft about an invented school club, the Saturday Swap Shop, for a school magazine.
If you visit the Saturday Swap Shop, you will find cheap books. One should arrive early because students often take the best items. We all love a bargain, and people can also bring their own things to swap. You must not forget your bag.
Step 1, decide: the address will be you, in a friendly register.
Step 2, scan: the pronouns go you, one, students, we, people, you. Four of them do not match.
Step 3, fix:
If you visit the Saturday Swap Shop, you will find cheap books. Arrive early, because the best items disappear quickly. You can also bring your own things to swap, and bargains are hard to resist. Remember your bag.
Step 4, check: one, students, we and people are gone, and the imperatives “Arrive early” and “Remember” are also addressed to you. The voice now sounds like one person talking to the reader.
What mistake should you avoid?
Mixing registers is another common slip, just like mixing pronouns.
Mixed: Students are kindly requested to queue at the entrance. Don’t push in, okay?
The first sentence is very formal and the second is chatty, so the reader hears two writers. The correction is to keep one level, for example: “Please queue at the entrance. Pushing in is unfair to people who arrived earlier.” Both sentences are now polite and friendly.
Check yourself
1. Find the shifts in address: “Readers of this magazine will enjoy the club. You should bring a bag, and one can leave by four.”
Show answer
The address moves from readers (third person) to you to one. A consistent version: “You will enjoy the club. You should bring a bag, and you can leave by four.”
2. Rewrite so the address is consistently you: “We should arrive early because people take the best books, and one can miss out.”
Show answer
“You should arrive early because the best books go quickly, and you can miss out.” The mixed we, people and one are replaced by you.
3. Which version mixes register? (a) “Please queue here. Pushing in is unfair.” (b) “Students are kindly requested to queue. Don’t push in, okay?”
Show answer
(b). The first sentence is formal and the second is informal. Version (a) stays at one friendly, polite level.
Where does this lead next?
With a steady voice, you are ready for the last paragraph: finishing with a relevant recommendation about the fictional subject. If your paragraphs still contain opinions without reasons, revisit supporting an opinion about a fictional experience. The mixed practice set includes items on address and register.
Some students only notice these shifts when reading aloud. A teacher in online one-to-one English as a Second Language tuition can build that listening habit with your own drafts.