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I'm not sure that we'll all ever really agree on anything, but you're right
to say that most of us write in the second person most of the time. There
are instances, however, when you have to use third person. For example, a
manual directed at system managers may need to differentiate between the
system managers themselves (second person) and their end users (third
person).
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From: TECHWR-L
To: Multiple recipients of list TECHWR-L
Subject: Re: Re[2]: generic "he"
Date: Thursday, December 01, 1994 9:23AM
Gentles,
Did we not recently agree that the appropriate form for most if
not all technical writing is the second person? Is it not accepted
here that a manual is better addressed to "you, the user" than written
about "the user....he/she/they/he or she"? The generic pronoun issue
may need to be resolved elsewhere, but for the purposes of technical
writing we're in an ideal position to evade it, since "you" is a
truly generic pronoun, applying to any number of persons, of either or
both sexes, who are being addressed.
Vicki Rosenzweig
vr%acmcr -dot- uucp -at- murphy -dot- com
New York, NY
