# Never start a letter with "I"! **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 4, 2003, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/never-start-a-letter-with-i/173044 "2003-05-04T17:49:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Schnitte](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/schnitte/32/9033_2.png) [@Schnitte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Schnitte)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2003, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/never-start-a-letter-with-i/173044/1 "2003-05-04T17:49:39Z")
This is a rule schoolchildren are, or at least used to be, told when they’re taught how to write a letter properly. Does this still apply, or is it outdated? Would you feel offended if a private or business letter to you began with _I_? What about e-mail or SDMB posts? Personally, I’m trying to avoid it if possible, but if I think it lends itself to begin a text with _I_, I’ll do so, rather than search around for an alternative formulation. I’m interested in other people’s opinion about that. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2003, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/never-start-a-letter-with-i/173044/2 "2003-05-04T18:00:42Z")
I’ve never heard of this rule, but it sounds silly and outdated. ---
**Author:** ![brianmelendez](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/65b543/32.png) [@brianmelendez](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brianmelendez)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2003, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/never-start-a-letter-with-i/173044/3 "2003-05-04T18:10:48Z")
I have never heard of any such rule, and can’t imagine why anyone would ever have advocated it. Every day, I see professional correspondence that begins with “I.” ---
**Author:** ![abderian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9de0a6/32.png) [@abderian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/abderian)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2003, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/never-start-a-letter-with-i/173044/4 "2003-05-04T18:12:42Z")
I remember that rule, too, and every so often it rears its ugly head and makes letter-writing awkward. ---
**Author:** ![viking](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/bc79bd/32.png) [@viking](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/viking)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2003, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/never-start-a-letter-with-i/173044/5 "2003-05-04T18:33:06Z")
I think it is obvious that if such a rule does exist, people are not applying it to SDMB posts 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Schnitte](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/schnitte/32/9033_2.png) [@Schnitte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Schnitte)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2003, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/never-start-a-letter-with-i/173044/6 "2003-05-04T19:00:51Z")
Probably my teacher simply had his own views of proper writing. ---
**Author:** ![XJETGIRLX](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/9fc29f/32.png) [@XJETGIRLX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XJETGIRLX)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2003, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/never-start-a-letter-with-i/173044/7 "2003-05-04T19:17:56Z")
I suppose I shan’t forward you this letter I received that begins: “I am happy to inform you that you have been selected as the winner …” ---
**Author:** ![Futile\_Gesture](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f05b48/32.png) [@Futile\_Gesture](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Futile_Gesture)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2003, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/never-start-a-letter-with-i/173044/8 "2003-05-04T19:18:53Z")
I think the ‘rule’ was only a means to encourage good letter etiquette, especially in personal letters. You should open with greetings and inquiring of the reader’s well being, rather than launching into a paragraph about yourself. ---
**Author:** ![abderian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9de0a6/32.png) [@abderian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/abderian)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2003, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/never-start-a-letter-with-i/173044/9 "2003-05-04T19:25:13Z")
But I remember the rule, too, Schnitte. I also remember being told it was rude to list one’s self first. For example, I shouldn’t write, “Join me and Schnitte for lunch on Tuesday.” I should write “Join Schnitte and me for lunch on Tuesday.” Maybe we both had quirky teachers. Or maybe we had the SAME teacher. ---
**Author:** ![brianmelendez](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/65b543/32.png) [@brianmelendez](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brianmelendez)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2003, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/never-start-a-letter-with-i/173044/10 "2003-05-04T19:35:01Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Schnitte \* > \*\*Probably my teacher simply had his own views of proper writing. \*\* **Schnitte** , your teacher’s rule sounded a lot like a “superstition”: > [@](#): > > In 1926, H.W. Fowler used the term “superstitions” to describe, in the field of writing, “unintelligent applications of unintelligent dogma.” (_MEU1_ at 586.) Experts in usage have long railed against them as arrant nonsense, yet they retain a firm grip–if not a stranglehold–on the average person’s mind when it comes to putting words on paper. Indeed, these superstitions are bred in the classrooms in which children and adolescents learn to write. Bryan A. Garner, _A Dictionary of Modern American Usage_ 631 (1998). So I looked up “superstition” in my trusty usage dictionary and, of the eleven examples that it specifically calls out, found this superstition listed ninth: > [@](#): > > **I. Never Use the First-Person Pronouns _I_ and _me_.** “[\*\*I]f you want to write like a professional just about the first thing you have to do is get used to the first person singular. Just plunge in and write ‘I’ whenever ‘I’ seems to be the word that is called for. Never mind the superstitious notion that it’s immodest to do so. It just isn’t so.” Rudolf Flesch, _A New Way to Better English_ 49 (1959). See FIRST PERSON. _Id._ at 632. That particular superstition isn’t exactly what you were asking about. But the cross-referenced article on the “first person” sheds some light on where your teacher’s notion may have come from: > [@](#): > > **FIRST PERSON.** Immature writers use _I_ and _me_ at every turn. It’s therefore a customary rite of passage for every grade-school student to write an essay without ever using first person. As a writing exercise, this is useful. > > Yet it arguably does much harm as well. Many students come to believe that in writing, there’s something inherently wrong with first person. So even later in life, they go to great lengths to avoid it, as by using phrases such as _the present writer_, _the author_, and so on. It leads them to PASSIVE VOICE and to BURIED VERBS. If you’re the actor, the belief runs, omit the actor. It all leads to ABSTRACTITIS. > > But graceless circumlocutions serve no real stylistic purpose and are inferior to the straightforward pronouns _I_ and _me_. Late in his career as a writer, Jerome Frank confessed that he had long shunned the first-person pronoun, preferring _the writer_ to _I_ on the assumption that the indirect phrasing signified modesty. With age he became wiser and concluded: “To say _I_ removes a false impression of a Jovian aloofness.” _Courts on Trial_ vii-viii (1950). > > Of one common set of self-obscuring devices–_it is suggested that_, _it is proposed that_, and _it is submitted that_–Fred Rodell observed, “[W]hether the writers really suppose that such constructions clothe them in anonymity so that people cannot guess who is suggesting and who is proposing, I do not know.” “Goodbye to Law Reviews–Revisited,” 48 _Va. L. Rev._ 279, 280 (1962). We do know, however, that these phrases often make sentences read as if they had been “translated from the German by someone with a rather meager knowledge of English.” _Id._ _Id._ at 292-93. ---
**Author:** ![Heart\_On\_My\_Sleeve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/77aa72/32.png) [@Heart\_On\_My\_Sleeve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Heart_On_My_Sleeve)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2003, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/never-start-a-letter-with-i/173044/11 "2003-05-04T19:37:47Z")
We need to say I in the IMHO since we are give our opinions. But I think the rule you’re remembering (perhaps) is that you shouldn’t start EVERY sentence with “I”. I think it’s okay to do it, but following that rule encourages more creative writing. If you say “I was glad to meet you yesterday.” or “I was very impressed with your presentation.” That’s not offensive…you’re complimenting your reader! The rule that if you’re talking about yourself and someone else, I have heard before. I think that’s a nice curteous gesture to list yourself last. And think about how odd it would be to say, “I and you make a great pair.” ---
**Author:** ![brianmelendez](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/65b543/32.png) [@brianmelendez](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brianmelendez)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2003, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/never-start-a-letter-with-i/173044/12 "2003-05-04T19:54:55Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Portwest \* > **I also remember being told it was rude to list one’s self first. For example, I shouldn’t write, “Join me and Schnitte for lunch on Tuesday.” I should write "Join Schnitte and me for lunch on Tuesday."** > [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Heart On My Sleeve \* > \*\*The rule that if you’re talking about yourself and someone else, I have heard before. I think that’s a nice curteous gesture to list yourself last. And think about how odd it would be to say, “I and you make a great pair.” \*\* The rule of listing the first-person pronoun last in a series of two or more subjects is a different issue than the OP. That rule is widely (as far as I know, universally) accepted. > [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Heart On My Sleeve \* > **We need to say I in the IMHO since we are give our opinions.** Here I disagree. This forum is called In My Humble Opinion because, I assume, “IMHO” is always implied, and need not be explicitly stated over and over. We are exchanging opinions about matters that are generally not susceptible of factual knowledge, and the opinions expressed here usually can’t be anything but our personal views. The article on “first person” that I was quoting from in my earlier post concluded with this paragraph, which I omitted before because it wasn’t really relevant to the OP: > [@](#): > > None of this should suggest that every personal opinion should include the word _I_. Most opinions are transparently just that, and they therefore need no direct mention of the writer–e.g.: “Though Einstein is routinely lionized as a great scientific mind, Newton was the most original thinker that science has ever produced.” No moderately sophisticated reader would assume that this statement is anything more than an opinion. And it is much more convincingly stated without inserting the phrase _in my opinion_. Whether one adds “IMHO” to an opinion here is a matter of personal preference. Sometimes doing so seems like a good idea, but sometimes it seems unnecessary. IMHO. ---
**Author:** ![delphica](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e9a140/32.png) [@delphica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/delphica)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2003, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/never-start-a-letter-with-i/173044/13 "2003-05-04T20:58:13Z")
I learned this rule in some dippy “business” class in high school, and I also heard it several times when I first began working in an office. It seems obvious there are just some times when the most direct and appropriate way to start off a business letter is with “I …” But the value I got from knowing the rule was to be a little more aware of the overall impression of my business letters. It was striking to me how often they started with “I,” and it wasn’t uncommon for every paragraph to start with “I” as well. Now, I always give at least a little thought to an alternate beginning, just to mix things up. I think the overall tone and style of the letter is improved. There’s also a thing against passive voice in business writing, and of course, because you can never win, avoiding the “I” often leads right into passive voice. Again, rather than completely avoiding the passive voice, I just try to be aware of it and make sure my business correspondence doesn’t lean too heavily in either direction. I would sum up my feelings by saying “it’s a good rule to know, but not necessarily good to follow it 100% of the time.” I don’t think it’s silly or outdated if you’re just using it as a guideline when you go back to review and possibly edit your letter before sending it off. ---
**Author:** ![TheLoadedDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/35a633/32.png) [@TheLoadedDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheLoadedDog)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2003, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/never-start-a-letter-with-i/173044/14 "2003-05-04T21:24:42Z")
I remember an old fuddy duddy teacher telling us this rule, but then he was the same guy who hated the word “got”, and would give us lists of sentences in which we’d have to replace “got” with something else. Bloody stupid, if you ask me. Use whatever feels right. ---
**Author:** ![Heart\_On\_My\_Sleeve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/77aa72/32.png) [@Heart\_On\_My\_Sleeve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Heart_On_My_Sleeve)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2003, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/never-start-a-letter-with-i/173044/15 "2003-05-04T21:28:08Z")
> [@](#): > > Here I disagree. This forum is called In My Humble Opinion because, I assume, “IMHO” is always implied, and need not be explicitly stated over and over. We are exchanging opinions about matters that are generally not susceptible of factual knowledge, and the opinions expressed here usually can’t be anything but our personal views. OK, I was being too absolute. My point was that it’s not inappropriate to use “I” in IMHO. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Billdo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/billdo/32/315_2.png) [@Billdo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Billdo)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2003, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/never-start-a-letter-with-i/173044/16 "2003-05-04T22:28:09Z")
In writing my business letters, I frequently begin with “I” (or sometimes “We” when I’m writing on behalf of my firm). When writing to someone who may not be immediately familiar with who I am or why I am writing, I almost always begin with an introductory sentence or two saying who I am or why I am writing: “I represent the Plaintiff in this action . . . .” “I am writing in response to your job listing. . . .” “I was a passenger on your flight number . . . .” There’s little that’s more annoying than picking up a letter and scratching your head over the question: “Who the heck is this and why is she writing to me?” ---
**Author:** ![brianmelendez](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/65b543/32.png) [@brianmelendez](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brianmelendez)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2003, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/never-start-a-letter-with-i/173044/17 "2003-05-04T22:42:57Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Heart On My Sleeve \* > \*\*OK, I was being too absolute. My point was that it’s not inappropriate to use “I” in IMHO. > > 🙂 \*\* Gotcha. Sorry for the unnecessary disagreement, then. (I am probably a little oversensitive because a Doper in another thread last weekend got very huffy because I disagreed with him without using “IMHO” in my post. Nobody else in the thread had been using it, either, but evidently he wasn’t very comfortable with the different viewpoint.) ---
**Author:** ![brianmelendez](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/65b543/32.png) [@brianmelendez](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brianmelendez)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2003, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/never-start-a-letter-with-i/173044/18 "2003-05-04T22:51:19Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Billdo \* > \*\*There’s little that’s more annoying than picking up a letter and scratching your head over the question: “Who the heck is this and why is she writing to me?” \*\* Amen! Especially when the writer’s name doesn’t show up until the signature line a page or more later. ---
**Author:** ![Dogface](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9d8465/32.png) [@Dogface](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dogface)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2003, 5:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/never-start-a-letter-with-i/173044/19 "2003-05-05T05:23:41Z")
Oddly enough, nearly all of my business correspondence begins with “I”. It is the briefest way to begin an introduction. Likewise, if I wish to state “I received your package”, how better to begin a letter that was specifically written for that intent? ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2003, 10:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/never-start-a-letter-with-i/173044/20 "2003-05-05T10:10:13Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by TheLoadedDog \* > \*\*I remember an old fuddy duddy teacher telling us this rule, but then he was the same guy who hated the word “got”, and would give us lists of sentences in which we’d have to replace “got” with something else. Bloody stupid, if you ask me. Use whatever feels right. \*\* “Got” is technically incorrect in a few instances. As the past tense or in the phrase “have got,” it’s perfectly fine. For example “I got the keys from mom” or “I’ve got a lot of homework to do” are both perfectly decent uses of “got.” Where it’s wrong is using “got” instead of the construction “have got.” Technically, “got” alone is not a synonym for “have.” So, “I got a car” to mean “I have a car” is incorrect. If you mean “I received a car” then it’s fine. I assume the way this form work its way into the colloquial is simply through the dropping of the “have.” Just like “I got to go to work” is correctly rendered in formal English as “I’ve got to go to work.” But a simple blanket rule that “got” is wrong is woefully incorrect. And in informal or spoken English, I ('ve) got no problem with dropping the “have” from the phrase “have got.” [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/never-start-a-letter-with-i/173044.md?page=2)