passive voice (was RE: Numbering paragraphs

Subject: passive voice (was RE: Numbering paragraphs
From: "McLauchlan, Kevin" <Kevin -dot- McLauchlan -at- safenet-inc -dot- com>
To: tech2wr-l <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com>
Date: Sat, 20 Oct 2012 18:26:53 -0400

Well, we've had the discussion before, but does anybody remember
(even confined to some niche) a good reason for using passive voice?

Unlike some, I don't shriek and begin to wither when I or someone
occasionally uses passive voice (sunshine on a vampire...).
Although, I admit, my skin begins to crawl when passive voice is
strung together through paragraph after paragraph, page after page.

So, not counting the minor writerly affectation of applying it sparingly,
to inject some variety into one's writing, is there any reason for employing
large gobs of passive voice that doesn't come back to avoidance of responsibility?

As far as I'm concerned, and until I'm... ahem.... actively persuaded
otherwise, passive voice was (still is?) beloved of bureau'rats
(the "c" is silent) because it is embraced as a cloak of anonymity
and a way to deflect and diffuse (also defuse) blame.

Is there any other (legitimate) reason to prefer passive voice?
(And please don't say "because the customer/your boss wants
it that way" - because then I'll say, then what is THEIR reason
for wanting it that way. And you'll say "it doesn't matter, they're
the ones paying the bills", and I'll say, it matters to me or I wouldn't
have asked the question. I want to know if I should automatically
harbo[u]r diminished respect for whoever demands passive voice
as the default, or could they have a reason other than evasion of
blame/responsibility as a defining cultural trait?

It goes toward TW self-respect and not feeling like a total hack
in how you earn your daily bread.

Becca said
...
> I do think that the numbered and indented paragraphs aren't the best
> way to do things... but then, what people are writing and calling
> procedures aren't what I would call a procedure... there's very little
> "do this... do this next step" in them. Most of them are written
> passive voice (and I'm getting a lot of push-back when I try to write
> them in active).
>
> I'm doing the best with what I've been given, but I have very little
> (read,none) influence over the finished projects.
>


The information contained in this electronic mail transmission
may be privileged and confidential, and therefore, protected
from disclosure. If you have received this communication in
error, please notify us immediately by replying to this
message and deleting it from your computer without copying
or disclosing it.


^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
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 &#8220;Getting Started with Doc-To-Help&#8221; 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


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


Follow-Ups:

Previous by Author: RE: Editing PDFs
Next by Author: RE: passive voice (was RE: Numbering paragraphs
Previous by Thread: RE: Restricting Style Formatting in MS Word
Next by Thread: Re: passive voice (was RE: Numbering paragraphs


What this post helpful? Share it with friends and colleagues:


Sponsored Ads