RE: Active verbs (was: Basic Voice)

Subject: RE: Active verbs (was: Basic Voice)
From: Alan Bucher <bucherino -at- yahoo -dot- com>
To: "TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com>
Date: Fri, 14 Feb 2003 11:31:54 -0800 (PST)


Chris wrote:
>The toaster toasts your bread. You can use it to toast bread-like
>substances that are in the shape of a slice. For example, you can
>use it to toast slices of nasty sandwich bread, English muffins, or
>sliced whole-wheat bread. You cannot use it to toast an unsliced
>loaf of bread, nor can you use it to cook a pizza.

I still prefer:

-----
The toaster toasts your bread. It can toast bread-like substances
that are in the shape of a slice. For example, it can toast slices
of nasty sandwich bread, English muffins, or sliced whole-wheat
bread. It cannot toast an unsliced loaf of bread, nor can it cook a
pizza.
-----

It's entirely understood that the toaster is a tool that you use, and
that it doesn't do these things on its own. Adding "you can use it"
to each sentence adds 25% more words without improving the
understandability one whit.

>Using the toaster enables you to toast your bread while you are
>frying your eggs.

I would accept this because it refers to the general usefulness of
the toaster as a time-saver, thus "allowing" you to do other things
while it's working. But for a specific feature, I prefer the direct approach.

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