Skip to main content

one, you and they: used for people in general

one and you: meaning​

We can use one or you to talk about people in general, including the speaker and hearer.

  • One/You cannot learn a language in six weeks.
  • One/You should never give people advice.

one and you: formality and class​

One is more formal than you (and more common in writing than in speech). Compare:

  • If you want to make people angry, you just have to tell them the truth.
  • If one wishes to make oneself thoroughly unpopular, one has merely to tell people the truth.

One is often considered typical of more upper-class and intellectual usage, and is avoided by many people for this reason. It is less common in American English than in British English.

one and you: only used in generalisations​

One and you are only used in this way in very general statements, when we are talking about ‘anyone, at any time’. Compare:

  • One/You can usually find people who speak English in Sweden.
    English is spoken in this shop. or They speak English in this shop. (not One speaks English … – the meaning is not ‘people in general’)
  • One/You should knock before going into somebody’s room.
    Somebody’s knocking at the door. (not One is knocking …)
  • It can take you/one ages to get served in this pub.
    Thanks, I’m being served. (not Thanks, one is serving me.)

One generally has a singular meaning: ‘any individual’; it is not used to refer to whole groups.

  • We speak a strange dialect where I come from. (not One speaks a strange dialect where I come from.)

People including the speaker/hearer​

One is not used for people who could not include the speaker; you is not used for people who could not include the hearer. Compare:

  • One/You must believe in something.
  • In the sixteenth century people believed in witches. (not … one/you believed in witches – this could not include the speaker or hearer.)

one/you as subject, object, etc​

One can be a subject or object; there is a possessive one’s and a reflexive pronoun oneself.

  • He talks to one like a teacher.
  • One’s family can be very difficult.
  • One should always give oneself plenty of time to pack.

You/your/yourself can be used in similar ways.

British English uses one/one’s for a reference back.

  • One should always try to keep one’s temper.

American English generally avoids this, traditionally preferring he/him/his.

  • One should always try to keep his temper.

However, the use of he/him/his for people in general is now seen as sexist and also avoided (see here).

they​

They has a rather different, less general kind of meaning than one and you. It usually refers to a particular but rather vague group (for example the neighbours, the people around, the authorities).

  • They don’t like strangers round here.
  • They’re going to widen the road soon.
  • I bet they put taxes up next year.

Note also the common expression they say (= people say).

  • They say her husband’s been seeing that Smith woman again. (not One says …)