Editing Encyclopedia:Manual of Style (section)

===Instructional and presumptuous language===
{{Shortcut|MOS:INSTRUCT||MOS:NOTE|MOS:NOTETHAT|MOS:NOTED|MOS:PRESUME|MOS:QUESTION}}
{{redirect|MOS:NOTE}}
{{See also|Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Words to watch#Editorializing|Wikipedia:Writing better articles#Information style and tone|Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Self-references to avoid#Note that&nbsp;...|Wikipedia:It should be noted<!-- WP:NOTETHAT -->}}

Avoid phrases such as {{!xt|remember that}} and {{!xt|note that}}, which [[Imperative mood|address readers directly]] in an [[Wikipedia:Writing better articles#Tone|unencyclopedic tone]] and lean toward [[Wikipedia:What Wikipedia is not#Wikipedia is not a manual, guidebook, textbook, or scientific journal|instructional]]. They are a subtle form of [[Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Self-references to avoid|Wikipedia self-reference]], "breaking the [[fourth wall]]". Similarly, phrases such as {{!xt|of course}}, {{!xt|naturally}}, {{!xt|obviously}}, {{!xt|clearly}}, and {{!xt|actually}} make presumptions about readers' knowledge, may [[Wikipedia:Neutral point of view|express a viewpoint]], and may call into question the reason for including the information in the first place.

Do not {{em|tell}} readers that something is interesting, ironic, surprising, unexpected, amusing, coincidental, etc. Simply present sourced facts neutrally and let readers draw their own conclusions. Such constructions can usually just be deleted, leaving behind proper sentences with a more academic and less pushy tone: {{!xt|Note that this was naturally subject to controversy in more conservative newspapers.}} becomes {{xt|This was subject to controversy in more conservative newspapers.}}
Similar variants which indirectly instruct readers, such as {{!xt|It should be noted that}} or {{!xt|It is important to note that}}, may be rewritten by leaving out those words: {{!xt|It is important to note that the colloquial dialect of Portuñol is similar to but different from Mirandese}} becomes just {{xt|The colloquial dialect of Portuñol is similar to but different from Mirandese}}. 

Avoid rhetorical questions, especially [[Wikipedia:Manual of Style#Section headings|in headings]]. Use a heading of {{xt|Active listening}} and text such as {{xt|The term ''active listening'', coined in&nbsp;...}}, not {{!xt|What is ''active listening''?}}

For issues in the use of [[Template:Crossreference|cross-reference]]s{{snd}}e.g., {{xt|{{crossref|(see also [[Bulverism]]}})}}{{snd}}see {{sectionlink||Second-person pronouns}}.