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.
"XYZ software is considered to be the leading bean-counting product
on the market today" is exactly the sort of thing I consider a
_misuse_ of the passive voice.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
If I was confronted with this sentence, I would rewrite it as "XYZ software is
the leading bean-counting product on the market today" and then go on with
examples of WHY it is (i.e., it counts beans faster, it has a friendlier user
interface, etc.). If I had enthusiastic evaluations of the product, I would use
those as well. This is obviously a marketing-type sentence, and OF COURSE one
would try to put the product in the best possible light.
The only time I can see using passive voice is in a situation when the exact
background processes are irrelevant to the user. For example "When you press
ABC pushbutton, the XYZ dialog box is opened." You could also write "Press
ABC button to open the XYZ dialog box", or "When you press ABC pushbutton, the
sytem opens the XYZ dialog box", but I'm not sure one sentence is necessarily
that much better than the other. (Or maybe I'm dead wrong?)
Nora
merhar -at- alena -dot- switch -dot- rockwell -dot- com
