Following this, I will discuss several arguments for the harmful effects of

junk food advertisements targeted at children.

We all know that it is important to promote healthy eating habits in

children.

I have two arguments for the need to ban junk food advertising on
television.

I have many reasons for banning junk food advertisements on TV.

I strongly believe that children who eat a lot of junk food will destroy
their health for their entire life.
 Using or Avoiding Personal Language
The decision to use or not use personal language in a piece of writing depends on the
expectations of your reader (audience), purpose for writing, and context. In some subject areas,
students are encouraged to express their views subjectively with personal language. However,
in other subject areas, it is discouraged because it is seen as ‘unscientific’ and not objective.

Regardless of the subject area you study in, it is a useful skill to be able to change sentences
effectively to switch from personal to impersonal voice as needed. The following are some
strategies to avoid personal language and write in a more ‘objective’ voice:

Use the passive voice instead of the active voice

Following this, I will discuss several arguments for the harmful effects of junk food
advertisements targeted at children.

Following this, several arguments for the harmful effects of junk food advertisements
targeted at children will be discussed.

Note that the passive voice is not always possible with certain verbs that are intransitive (do not
take an object) or stative (describe a state rather than an action):

We all know that it is important to promote healthy eating habits in children.

I have two arguments for the need to ban junk food advertising on television.

However, in many of these cases, the opinion statement can often be removed from the
sentence with no change in meaning, or the verb can be changed to a verb that can be used in
the passive voice.

We all know that It is important to promote healthy eating habits in children.

Two arguments for the need to ban junk food advertising on television will be discussed.

Use dummy pronouns - “existential there” or “empty it”

While ‘there’ usually acts as an adverb of place in English (ex. “Over there, next to Mahiro”), it
also has an ‘existential’ form. ‘Existential’ there acts as grammatical subject filler in sentences
that make statements about the existence of someone or something (There + be + object):

I have many reasons for banning junk food advertisements on TV.

“I have many reasons for banning junk food advertisements on TV.” = many reasons for
banning junk food advertisements on TV exist = There are many reasons for banning junk food
advertisements on TV.

We can use ‘empty’ it as a filler pronoun with an adjective to introduce a noun clause in order
to avoid using personal language (It + be + adjective + that):

I strongly believe that children who eat a lot of junk food will destroy their health for
their entire life.

“I strongly believe that children who eat a lot of junk food will destroy their health for their
entire life.” = It is obvious/clear that children who eat a lot of junk food will destroy their health
for their entire life.

Practice

The paragraph of the following essay has been written in personal language. Use strategies
from the handout above to modify the language and make it sound more objective:

I think it is unfair that companies market junk food to children using TV commercials.

These commercials use their favourite characters catchy music to catch kids’ attention. I have

some reasons why this is harmful to children. I will explain the ways that these commercials

influence children’s choices and their attitude towards food. First, I think that children see more

commercials for junk food than for healthy food, which can ‘normalize’ eating junk food. I

found in a study by Mooney (2011) that in 2006, “soda makers spent about $500 million on

advertising directed at kids”, yet only about $11 million was spent by fruit and vegetable

growers. I think this shows that children have more exposure to unhealthy food, which will lead

them to make more unhealthy choices.