Re: Usage of second person or third person when writing procedures

[bgranat -at- att -dot- net]

A general guiding principle for all writing is this:

Whenever possible (that is, nearly always), use the 
active voice. The implied second person is the standard 
choice for procedures.
> Need a little help.  Our style guide is almost finished but have 
> conflicting source references as to second or third person usage.  When 
> writing instructions, use the implied second or third person?  
> Example...Eat dinner before eating dessert or Dinner should be eaten before 
> dessert.  Does anyone know which is correct when writing procedures?
> 

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

*** Deva(tm) Tools for Dreamweaver and Deva(tm) Search ***
Build Contents, Indexes, and Search for Web Sites and Help Systems
Available now at http://www.devahelp.com or info -at- devahelp -dot- com

A landmark hotel, one of America's most beautiful cities, and 
three and a half days of immersion in the state of the art:
IPCC 01, Oct. 24-27 in Santa Fe.  http://ieeepcs.org/2001/

---
You are currently subscribed to techwr-l as: archive -at- raycomm -dot- com
To unsubscribe send a blank email to leave-techwr-l-obscured -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com
Send administrative questions to ejray -at- raycomm -dot- com -dot-  Visit 
http://www.raycomm.com/techwhirl/ for more resources and info.