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Subject:Re: active vs. passive voice From:Peter Neilson <neilson -at- windstream -dot- net> To:Gause_Brian -at- emc -dot- com Date:Fri, 28 Mar 2008 20:29:12 -0400
Gause_Brian -at- emc -dot- com wrote:
> This is a lot of discussion for something that should be quite simple.
>
> I would rewrite this sentence:
> 1. Click <New Entry>. The New Entry window will appear.
>
> Like this:
>
> 1. Click <New Entry> to display the New Entry window.
>
> Then it's not passive voice. In fact, it's better! It's a command.
Oh, no! I'm being drawn into this already too far over-drawn-out discussion!
The user does not want to display a New Entry window. He could not care
less about the damned window. He wants to change something, and he's not
quite sure what. Indeed, he's gotten to where he is by hunt-&-click
methods, hoping like heck that he discovers something useful. He's
turned to the User Manual that is masquarading as the Help Files as a
last resort. He thinks he wants to add an entry to the master record
table, but can only find how to make a New Entry, and it looks as if
it's going to go into the New Entry table.
He (and it's he, not she--wimmins would have asked real people for help
by now) has clicked on the New Entry button twice already. He's
double-clicked on it, too, and seen two New Entry windows appear on top
of each other. He wishes whoever wrote the instructions actually tried
to do some of the end-user tasks.
Won't I ever learn to shut up and leave these preaching-to-the-quire
discussions alone?
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