RE: Future Tense in Tech Writing

Subject: RE: Future Tense in Tech Writing
From: "Michele Marques" <marquesm -at- autros -dot- com>
To: "TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com>
Date: Thu, 16 Nov 2000 14:54:05 -0500

Like others, I generally use present tense. I use future tense (in
procedures) when the result does not occur immediately, as in:
Click the sort button. Depending on how many records you have in the
system, you will see the results in 15 minutes to 3 hours.

Of course, talking about future developments is in future tense. When
writing objectives for a training module (or other document where the user
will typically be reading before going off to do, not reading while doing),
I also use future tense, as in:
Once you complete course, you will be able to x, y and z.


--------------------------------------------
Michele Marques
Technical Writer,
Autros Healthcare Solutions
marquesm -at- autros -dot- com



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