This is a level of diction or language. For most college essays, your tone should be fairly serious and as objective as possible.

 Using formal tone(third person) creates distance between the writer and the audience.  For the Narrative/Descriptive, your personal story from the past is an intimate story that you are writing/telling to the audience.  Using formal tone (third person) in an essay creates a level of objectivity.

 First person is informal. It is subjective or personal. Using first person (like in the Narrative/Descriptive essay) creates a closeness or intimacy with the audience by storytelling.  First Person is the use of: I, me, my, mine, etc.  Ex. My favorite place is the Japanese garden. I could spend hours there.

 Second person is also informal. It can be directional as well.  Second person is the use of: you, your, you’re, etc.  It would be used in an informal essay like the Narrative/Descriptive essay.  Ex. You always have a special place to go to that relaxes you. (Personal or subjective)  Ex. You should really work toward forgiveness. (Directional)

Third person creates an objective tone. Envision taking a subject and examining it from a distance. Your goal is to discuss the topic with an objective tone Ex.: Environmental awareness is important to the future of the planet.(Third person)

 There are several ways to use formal tone consistently  1. Make the statement. Avoid “I believe” “In my opinion” or “I think” You can only write from your opinion, so there is no need to state the obvious. Ex.: I think the sky is gray. (1 st person) Ex. The sky is gray. (3 rd person)

 You can incorporate your own experiences, but you do not have to let the audience know it is a personal experience.  Ex. I have Diabetes. I have to check my sugar levels.(1 st person-informal tone)  Ex. Sara has Diabetes. She has to check her sugar levels. (3 rd person-formal tone)

 Maintain pronoun/antecedent agreement throughout the paragraphs to maintain formal tone (3 rd person)  Ex. Sara(3 rd per.) has Diabetes. I(1 st per.) have to check my(1 st per.) sugar levels daily.  Ex. Sara has Diabetes. She has to check her sugar levels daily.(consistently in 3 rd person)