RE: Feeling tense about tense - a call for examples please

["David Chinell" <dchinell -at- email -dot- msn -dot- com>]

Hi:

My rule of thumb is to use present tense unless timing is
actually involved, AND the temporal aspect is important to
the reader. In most cases where the tense changes, the
reader has to puzzle out whether this is a causal or
temporal relationship.

In other words, a change of tense always complicates things,
and if it's not important, it should be omitted.

As an example, I prefer to write:

2. Click Open. The system displays the Open File dialog box.

Or even better, I avoid the stimulus-response formula and
just write:

2. Click Open.
3. Select the file you want to edit.
4. Click Okay to open the file.

Assuming all the while that the system is performing
correctly and that the user is seeing the Open File dialog
box and its controls.

Bear



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