Re: Use of first, second, and third person in technical writing

[Brian Gordon <elasticsoul2003 -at- yahoo -dot- ca>]

I always use second person. Passive voice sounds
terrible and I believe can be quite difficult to
translate. Third person can also be confusing. 

Eg: 
Click the Enter key. [The "You" before "Click" is
understood.]
When you program the XXX...

All the best,
Brian

--- Lisa Dugger <saveena -dot- kitten -at- gmail -dot- com> wrote:

> 
> Which is proper?  Since I rarely see anything in
> first person, I
> gather that first person is not the desired
> viewpoint.  In the past I
> have written using second person because I wrote for
> my team members
> or individual users.  Now I have an official tech
> writing position and
> I am unsure of which perspective to use.  Third
> person sounds so
> stiff, but is it more professional?
> 

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