You can use you, we, one and they to talk about people in general, not one particular person. You usually need a ticket on the train. They are building a new motorway. One is much more formal and rare in speaking.
The generic personal pronouns are one, you, we and they. Use them for people in general, not for one particular person.
| Pronoun | Can include the speaker? | Style |
|---|---|---|
| you | yes | everyday speech and writing |
| we | yes | everyday speech and writing |
| one | yes | very formal |
| they | no | talks about others |
Use you to talk about what is true for people in general, not one particular person. It can include you and the person you are talking to, and it is the normal choice in speech.
In these sentences, you does not mean only the person you speak to. It means anyone.
Use we when you want to include yourself and a group, such as people in your country or in the world.
You, we and one can all include the speaker. Choose we when you want to make that group membership clear.
Use one for generalisations in very formal writing or speech. One is far more formal than either you or we, and people rarely use it in speech. The possessive determiner is one's and the reflexive is oneself.
The same sentence with one, you or we means the same: One can learn a lot. You can learn a lot. We can learn a lot.
Use they for a large, general group like the government, a company or the local council. Here they means no one person in particular, and the speaker is outside the group.
Use they, them and their to refer back to someone, anyone and everyone when the gender is unknown. Someone, anyone and everyone take a singular verb: everyone means every member of the group, but the verb stays singular. The later pronoun and the question tag use the plural form they.
| You want to say | Use |
|---|---|
| people in general, including me, speech | you |
| people in general, including me, as a group | we |
| people in general, very formal | one |
| some authority, not me | they |
| someone, anyone or everyone, gender unknown | they |
✗One have to be careful with money.
✓One has to be careful with money.
One takes the singular form of the verb: one has, not one have.
✗If anyone comes to the door, ask it to wait. (You do not know the gender.)
✓If anyone comes to the door, ask them to wait.
Use them for a person when you do not know the gender: ask them, not ask it.
✗You needs a passport at the border.
✓You need a passport at the border.
Generic you takes the base form of the verb: you need, not you needs.
For he, she and they, see Subject and object pronouns: I and me, they and them. For someone, anyone and no one, see Some and any: someone, anything, somewhere and related forms. For myself, yourself and oneself, see Reflexive pronouns and each other: myself, themselves, by yourself. For the passive as another way to talk about people in general, see The passive in many tenses and with modal verbs.
Eight questions. Choose one answer for each.