TechWhirl (TECHWR-L) is a resource for technical writing and technical communications professionals of all experience levels and in all industries to share their experiences and acquire information.
For two decades, technical communicators have turned to TechWhirl to ask and answer questions about the always-changing world of technical communications, such as tools, skills, career paths, methodologies, and emerging industries. The TechWhirl Archives and magazine, created for, by and about technical writers, offer a wealth of knowledge to everyone with an interest in any aspect of technical communications.
In this situation, we have a number of diferent actors. Each step may refer to a different actor. The author of the document wrote things like
"The SME should print his/her name and sign it on the Signature line"
Â
The next step then says what the next actor should be doing with the form.
Â
I don't think I can get away with totally reorganizing or editing the document to put it all in the second person assumed format. I have to take baby steps here with how much I can get away with editing.
Regards,
Becca
>________________________________
>From: "Combs, Richard" <richard -dot- combs -at- Polycom -dot- com>
>To: Becca <becca -at- di -dot- org>; tech2wr-l <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com>
>Sent: Friday, October 26, 2012 10:50 AM
>Subject: RE: His/Her v. Their
>
>Becca wrote:
>
>> Some documents I'm editing of necessity give procedures in third person
>> rather than the assumed (you) second person. There's no way around
>> this.
>
>Occasionally, it's appropriate to describe to the reader what someone else needs to do. But I'm highly skeptical that a whole set of documents "of necessity" describes all procedures in the third person.
>
>> In the document I'm editing, they use His/Her. My inclination is to use
>> "their" - comments?
>
>When I have to describe to the reader the actions of a third person, I avoid possessive pronouns entirely. Or use the plural noun and pronoun.
>
>"The operator sets the default widget options."
>"End users can customize their widget options."
>
>
>Richard G. Combs
>Senior Technical Writer
>Polycom, Inc.
>richardDOTcombs AT polycomDOTcom
>303-223-5111
>------
>rgcombs AT gmailDOTcom
>303-903-6372
>------
>
>
>
>
>
>
>^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>Writer Tip: You have more time to author content with Doc-To-Help, because your project can be up and running in 3 steps.
>
>See the âGetting Started with Doc-To-Helpâ blog post. http://bit.ly/doc-to-help-3-steps
>^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>
>You are currently subscribed to TECHWR-L as becca_price -at- yahoo -dot- com -dot-
>
>To unsubscribe send a blank email to
>techwr-l-leave -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
>
>
>Send administrative questions to admin -at- techwr-l -dot- com -dot- Visit
>http://www.techwhirl.com/email-discussion-groups/ for more resources and info.
>
>Looking for articles on Technical Communications? Head over to our online magazine at http://techwhirl.com/
>
>Looking for the archived Techwr-l email discussions? Search our public email archives @ http://techwr-l.com/archives
>
>
>
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Writer Tip: You have more time to author content with Doc-To-Help, because your project can be up and running in 3 steps.
See the “Getting Started with Doc-To-Help” blog post. http://bit.ly/doc-to-help-3-steps
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
You are currently subscribed to TECHWR-L as archive -at- web -dot- techwr-l -dot- com -dot-
To unsubscribe send a blank email to
techwr-l-leave -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
