Before doing this activity you may need to read the text you will find at the end
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| If your house is on fire, why are you so relaxed? |
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A- PERSONAL B- IMPERSONAL |
| Come on, if you are a man, go and talk to her |
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A- PERSONAL B- IMPERSONAL |
| You look really tired, I think you need to sleep more |
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A- PERSONAL B- IMPERSONAL |
| As a child, one needs to sleep more than when you grow up |
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A- PERSONAL B- IMPERSONAL |
| Oh, look! They have opened a new café down the street |
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A- PERSONAL B- IMPERSONAL |
| When one has children, things change a lot |
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A- PERSONAL B- IMPERSONAL |
| If you're a man and you talk to her, she won't say anything |
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A- PERSONAL B- IMPERSONAL |
| They are repairing the school building |
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A- PERSONAL B- IMPERSONAL |
| If you need help, tell me |
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A- PERSONAL B- IMPERSONAL |
| These are John and Mike. They have opened a new café down the street. |
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A- PERSONAL B- IMPERSONAL |
| I'm very confused. In this country you never know what to do. |
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A- PERSONAL B- IMPERSONAL |
| My cousins are working here at the school. They are repairing the school building |
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A- PERSONAL B- IMPERSONAL |
| Sometimes one needs to keep quiet |
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A- PERSONAL B- IMPERSONAL |
| If your house is on fire, you must call the fire brigade |
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A- PERSONAL B- IMPERSONAL |
| Your problem is that you never know what to do |
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A- PERSONAL B- IMPERSONAL |
We can use ONE and YOU to talk about people in general, including the speaker and the hearer. We only use them in generalisations, when we mean "anyone, at any time".
- You can't learn a language in one month = One can't learn a language in one month
- You need a Visa to enter the USA = One needs a visa to enter the USA
- You shouldn't be too hard on yourself = One shouldn't be too hard on oneself
- For you, your children are always the best = For one, one's children are always the best
ONE is more formal, so it is found mainly in written texts. When speaking, we prefer YOU. THEY is not so general as ONE or YOU. It refers to a particular group of people, but not a precise group.
- They are very nice in this city (not everybody in the world, but everybody who lives here)
- Your son is a teenager, and you know that they are very complicated (= teenagers in general, but not everybody in general)
- I'm sure they will sell a new model of this phone next year
- They are building a new bridge over the river
- They are planting flowers in all the city parks
- You work to earn money and they take it away with taxes
We also use THEY to talk about one or more people when we don't know who they are (= somebody)
- They broke my window yesterday
- I went to buy a Keenix camera, but they had bought the last one
- Who made this? If I catch them I'll take them to the police
Compare:
- If you go to Hawaii they give you flowers at the airport
In this example YOU is not "you", but "everybody", and THEY refers to an unknown vague group of people, not to everybody
- What's wrong, are you ill? If you need a doctor, call the emergency number
Here I'm talking about you
- Why am I calling? Well, I suppose that if you need a doctor, you must call the emergency number, so that's why I'm calling.
Here I'm talking about a general situation (and I use it to explain what I am doing). In this case we can also say: If one needs..., one must call...
So YOU can mean "you" or "everybody". The context decides which meaning it has.
