Module 12: Communicating using You-Attitude Flashcards
Audience-focus or you-attitude is a way of communicating that demonstrates
your ability to see another point of view
-It means empathizing—putting yourself in the other person’s shoes.
Communicating you-attitude
Looks at the situation from the audience’s point of view
Emphasizes what the audience wants to know
Treats the audience with courtesy
Respects the audience’s intelligence
Protects the audience’s ego
What Is You-Attitude in Writing?
You-attitude messages focus positively and politely on the audience.
Writers create you-attitude through
Appearance, layout, visuals, content, language and medium
How Do I Create Positive You-Attitude?
Talk about the reader—except in negative situations.
To create you-attitude
Talk about the reader, not about yourself.
Avoid talking about feelings, except to congratulate or offer sympathy.
Use you more often than I in positive situations; use we when it includes the reader.
Avoid the blaming you in negative situations.
You-attitude example
As a Sun Life employee, you now get a 20 percent discount when you rent a car from Apex.
You can now charge up to $5,000 on your Bank of Montreal card.
Congratulations! Your scholarship has been renewed.
Congratulations on your promotion to district manager! I was really pleased to read about it. (emotions included but be careful)
Impersonal constructions
omit people and talk only about things
Passive verbs
describe the action performed on something, without necessarily saying who did it.
Does You-Attitude Mean Using the Word You?
No. Communicating you-attitude means making deliberate choices in layout, content, language, organization, and medium—choices that influence your audience to pay attention to and act on your message.
I’ve Revised My Sentences. What Else Can I Do to Create You-Attitude?
Emphasize what the reader wants to know, using a reader-centred medium.
