Re: Active vs. passive voice?

[Michelle Vina-Baltsas <Michelle_Vina-Baltsas -at- datascope -dot- com>]

Geoff,

Thanks for your response. One comment about using "select". I've read in 
several style guides and heard many opinions about the use of "select" and 
"click". Our internal style guide dictates that we use "select" because we 
can select UI objects using the touch screen or by using a mouse. I know 
it's recommended for other interfaces that have both options (touch & 
mouse) to use "select" and "click" but I'm not a fan of using both. I've 
always found it confusing and to me, appears to be inconsistent because no 
one can clearly discern why the two are used.  This is just my opinion. I 
suppose this is a good case for "bending" the rules a little bit. :-) 

Thank you,
Michelle Vina-Baltsas
Senior Technical Writer
Datascope Corporation, Patient Monitoring
201.995.8350
michelle_vina-baltsas -at- datascope -dot- com





Geoff Hart <ghart -at- videotron -dot- ca> 
03/27/2008 11:15 AM

To
techwr-l List <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com>, Michelle Vina-Baltsas 
<Michelle_Vina-Baltsas -at- datascope -dot- com>
cc

Subject
Active vs. passive voice?






Michelle Vina-Baltsas wonders: <<I've read many threads on this 
listserv related to the use of "appears" vs. "displays" or "is 
displayed". During a meeting yesterday, with my fellow tech writers, 
we had a heated discussion about whether we should use "is displayed" 
or "displays" when writing a result (For example, "Select the XYZ 
button. The EXY dialog box is displayed.")>>

Actually, I prefer "Click the XYZ button to display the EXY dialog 
box" or its inverse: "To X, click Y". Simpler and clearer, and you're 
not making any predictions about whether the dialog will actually 
appear. Sometimes, best intentions notwithstanding, it doesn't.

Also, you don't select buttons: you click them. Only checkboxes and 
radio buttons should be selected in a dialog (or items from dropdown 
menus). It's an important distinction: selecting something merely 
chooses it as a parameter of what happens next, but clicking a button 
triggers an immediate action.

<<One writer insisted that the use of  "is displayed" should not be 
used because it is in the passive voice.>>

Yes, it's passive, and I'll avoid getting into the whole transitive/ 
intransive verb issue here. Passive voice is not inherently wrong, 
particularly since the alternative is to constantly say "the software 
then displays..." or similar wording. You can do that too, but 
really, there are better solutions.


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