Re: Have ye the will to use it, then?

Subject: Re: Have ye the will to use it, then?
From: Sharon Burton-Hardin <sharonburton -at- EMAIL -dot- MSN -dot- COM>
Date: Wed, 28 Apr 1999 16:53:59 -0700

I knew I didn't want to get into this but...

Of course you must use the job title is that is the relevant way to refer to
it/him/her.

You could easily - in most situations - write the sentence as "The Migration
Manager sends the file" using the present tense. In general - life and the
universe are full of real exceptions - the present tense is the best to work
from. If you force your self to ask "Can this sentence be written in present
tense, will it change the meaning/intent/etc?" If the answer is Yes, then do
so. It is frequently clearer and more concise to do so. Not always but
frequently.

I also teach people writing pol&procs and they agree frequently that the
present tense does make things clearer.

sharon

Sharon Burton-Hardin
President of the Inland Empire chapter of the STC
www.iestc.org
Anthrobytes Consulting
Home of RoboNEWS(tm), the unofficial RoboHELP newsletter
www.anthrobytes.com
Check out www.WinHelp.net!
See www.sharonburton.com!

-----Original Message-----
From: Mark Dando <danmcc -at- OZEMAIL -dot- COM -dot- AU>
To: TECHWR-L -at- LISTSERV -dot- OKSTATE -dot- EDU <TECHWR-L -at- LISTSERV -dot- OKSTATE -dot- EDU>
Date: Wednesday, 28 April, 1999 4:28 PM
Subject: Re: Have ye the will to use it, then?


|Sharon Burton-Hardin wrote:
|
|>No. No future tense. Rarely. You hardly ever need it. Present imperative
|>works fine for nearly everything. And they user is You. Second person. So
we
|>have present tense, second person. Please. There is a ton more to tech
|>writing than these 2 things but these 2 are elemental. The we come to
|>passive voice but that is another rant.
|>
|>I struggle to teach students this and I am generating a career and a
|>business based on these 2 simple premises. Amazing but true.
|
|
|To insist on present tense, second person for all forms of technical
writing
|is unnecessarily limiting.
|
|I write, and teach SMEs to write, process documents. At the higher level
|especially (policies and procedures, as against work instructions), the
|second person is generally not suitable because of the multiple audiences
|and actors involved in the process. We generally use the third person for
|precision, and often the future tense because it better conveys a sense of
|obligation than the present ("The Migration Manager will send the file.").
|The future tense is also needed for conditional activities.
|
|Can posters to this list please keep in mind the breadth of activity
covered
|by the terms "technical writing" and "technical communication". I've never
|written a software manual, and usually describe my discipline as business
|communication rather than technical communication, but much of it is very
|technical. And much of what appears on this list is very relevant.
|
|Thank you.
|--------------
|Dando McCredie Pty Ltd
|danmcc -at- ozemail -dot- com -dot- au
|Phone 61 2 4784 3460
|Mobile 61 417 280 581
|Fax 61 2 4784 3461
|7 Easter Street
|Leura NSW 2780
|Australia
|--------------
|
|
|From ??? -at- ??? Sun Jan 00 00:00:00 0000==
|
|


From ??? -at- ??? Sun Jan 00 00:00:00 0000=



Previous by Author: Re: Have ye the will to use it, then?
Next by Author: Re: FrameMaker 5.5.6 problems
Previous by Thread: Re: Have ye the will to use it, then?
Next by Thread: Re: use of tense


What this post helpful? Share it with friends and colleagues:


Sponsored Ads