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Subject:Re: Escaping gender usage (was RE: Pet Peeves) From:"Fred Ridder" <docudoc -at- hotmail -dot- com> To:suzette -dot- leeming -at- gmail -dot- com Date:Thu, 15 Mar 2007 10:49:34 -0500
Ah, but if you do that, a different faction of the language
police will condemn you for using the passive voice because
some teacher or editor in thier past insisted that the passive
voice should never be used under any circumstances.
And it seems to me that the passive voice is even more
impersonal than "the user" because it completely eliminates
the doer of the action.
>From: "Suzette Leeming" <suzette -dot- leeming -at- gmail -dot- com>
>To: "Chris Borokowski" <athloi -at- yahoo -dot- com>
>CC: TECHWR-L <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com>
>Subject: Re: Escaping gender usage (was RE: Pet Peeves)
>Date: Thu, 15 Mar 2007 11:17:08 -0400
>
>I try to avoid using "you" (too informal) or "user" (too impersonal).
>
>I would change the sentence structure to something like this:
>
>"When a hard drive is formatted, all of the data on it is lost."
>
>I avoid all gender issues this way.
>
>Suzette Leeming
>Stouffville, Ontario
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