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You can find commercial examples from the early 20th century. The corporate “we” isn’t a recent invention.

“We want to be your car company” … “We’re America’s first research university” … “We are a not-for-profit, 912-bed academic medical center” … “We are a major employer in the area” … “As a ‘main street’ accounting firm, we set ourselves apart” … “As a company we pride ourselves on our customer service and satisfaction” … “But we’re not just bigger-we’re one of the best colleges” … “It’s what makes us the business we are today.”Īnd commercial and institutional websites invariably use language like “who we are” and “what we do,” never “what it is” and “what it does.” Note that in each case a singular entity (“company,” “university,” “medical center,” “firm”) refers to itself in the plural: Here are some examples plucked randomly from the Internet. This is a very common practice in business language in fact, it’s the rule rather than the exception in corporate discourse.Ī company, an organization, or an institution will commonly refer to itself with the first-person plural “we” (along with “us,” “our,” and “ourselves” where appropriate), rather than with the impersonal pronoun “it.”

Q: This sentence is on a literary agency website: “We offer our clients unusually meaningful editorial guidance and inspiration, and serve as their advocate throughout the publishing process.” Shouldn’t “we” take the plural “advocates”?Ī: The literary agency is using what’s often called “the corporate we.” The firm itself is the “advocate” (singular), but refers to itself in the plural (“we”).