The difference between first person, second person and third person is the same as the if the speaker or writer says, “I, you, or him.” This is sometimes referred to as a grammatical person or point of view. References in the first person, second person or third person can have an effect on the verb forms used and can also be a big consideration in formal writing.

If a person is speaking or writing in the first person, he or she is talking about himself or herself. An example would be the sentence, “I like pizza.” If the speaker or writer is using a first person plural reference, the sentence would be changed slightly to say, “We like pizza.”

The second person is just the opposite of the first person in that instead of referring to “I,” the speaker is referring to “you,” meaning the reader or the person being spoken to directly. Using the previous example, the second person the sentence would read, “You love pizza.” The second person is not a reference used much in formal writing, but may be used in technical writing applications, such as giving instructions.

If a person is writing in the third person singular, the speaker or writer is referring to “he” or “she.” In English, the third person singular in the present tense often changes the verb form as well, usually by adding the letter “s” to the end of the verb, if it is a regular verb. For example, “I like pizza” and “You like pizza” but “He or she likes pizza.” If the reference is a third person plural, the verb form changes back. For example, “They like pizza.”

For normal, everyday conversations, the grammatical person is not something which most people think about. It just comes naturally. However, in other forms of communication, it can be very critical.

Those taking academic writing courses or engaging in other types of formal writing would likely be advised to avoid writing in the second person and would likely be counseled to avoid writing in the first person, in most cases. The first person would be acceptable in academic writing if a writer were being asked to provide a personal opinion. Otherwise, most academic writing is done in the third person.

As briefly mentioned previously, whether a speaker is speaking in first person, second person or third person, often makes no difference in regards to regular verb forms in English. The only change is in the third person singular. However, English is one of the few languages where the verb forms stay relatively stable. In many other languages, verb forms may change nearly every time the grammatical person changes.