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RE: Old thread, hopefully new spin on "allow" v. "enable."
Subject:RE: Old thread, hopefully new spin on "allow" v. "enable." From:Roy Jacobsen <rjacobse -at- GreatPlains -dot- com> To:TECHWR-L <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Tue, 7 Mar 2000 10:49:05 -0600
So if we're into "empowering" the users, why toss out "allow" and "enable"
entirely? Turn the sentence on its head and say "Use this procedure to
manipulate the data." Make the user the (implied) subject of the sentence,
and not the procedure.
Think "active voice." 9 times out of 10, this makes the writing shorter,
more direct, and more forceful. If you don't know what active voice is, turn
in your word processor. ;-)
Roy M. Jacobsen
Documentation Supervisor
Great Plains
1701 38th Street Southwest
Fargo, ND 58103
USA
"[The Y2K bug] was sorta like dodge ball. You hardly ever get hit by the
ball you see." -- Patricia Jacobsen (age 12)
