Reducing "I" Exercise

Reducing the Use of First Person while Cutting Wordiness

Although it's not possible or even desirable to eliminate “I” in a cover letter or personal essay, try joining some of these sentences to cut down on “I”. Do this by varying how you begin your sentences. Beginning some of them with prepositional phrases, verbal phrases, or adjective phrases and using compound verbs so you don’t have to repeat your subject are some ways to reduce the excessive use of “I.” The impression will be that you are a team player and not just in it for yourself.

Try these yourself:

1. By accident, I one day found myself in an astronomy class. No part of me was happy about this. I was only there because I needed the course units, and any class I would rather have taken was full. The class was designed to connect humanity to the cosmos, via physics. Its touchy-feely aura rubbed me the wrong way.

2. Most recipes I found online instructed me to add one packet of yeast to water warmed to 120 degrees Fahrenheit. And the only thermometer I had measured temperature in Celsius.

3. In the laboratory classes I watched some of my classmates struggle with finding the right chemicals, searching for the proper glassware, or adding the wrong ingredient at the wrong time. But I was lucky. I never found these experiments difficult.

4. Teaching children is something that comes naturally for some people. I am one of those people, and I have been fortunate enough to spend six years working at a school program.