Re: passive voice (was RE: Numbering paragraphs

[Chris Despopoulos <despopoulos_chriss -at- yahoo -dot- com>]

For the record, I agree with you here. I'm saying you have to critically decide whether to state the agent, not just default to passive voice because it's less work (as I have seen all too often). 

Where we agree to disagree is whether the user needs to know the agent. If you honestly believe the agent is obvious in every case where you use passive voice, then all is good, and it's up to the SME and/or Marketing to tell you otherwise (or not). In the stuff I do, I happen to believe things are not so obvious. Or where they are, other devices make passive unnecessary or even inferior.


CheersÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂ cud



________________________________
 From: sphilip <philstokes03 -at- googlemail -dot- com>
To: Chris Despopoulos <despopoulos_chriss -at- yahoo -dot- com> 
Cc: Milan DavidoviÄ <milan -dot- lists -at- gmail -dot- com>; "techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com> 
Sent: Monday, October 22, 2012 9:56 AM
Subject: Re: passive voice (was RE: Numbering paragraphs
 

We can go round in circles like this for ever.Â

So let's agree that we disagree on this.ÂYou claim:

if the agent is unknown to you, you're not doing your job.

whereas I claim:Â

if you mention the agent to the reader when the reader has no interest in the agent, you're not doing your job properly.Â

I should certainly know what causes actions in the system I am documenting. It doesn't follow from that that mentioning the agent is always in the reader's best interest.


Best

Phil
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