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Subject:Use of the First Person From:Bruce Byfield <bbyfield -at- AXIONET -dot- COM> Date:Sat, 31 Jan 1998 19:35:48 -0500
Dan Sabin <dsabin -at- ELECTROTEK -dot- COM> wrote:
>I wonder what you technical writers have to say about >this...Is using "we" inappropriate in a professional report >that basically summarizes my research findings to engineering >colleagues?
Dan:
The only correct answer to this question is that different audiences
have different expectations. If you want to publish with the standards
organization, you don't have much choice except to go along with what
they want.
But your tech-writer friend was probably right, too: for the work he or
she does, using the first person is more friendly.
Most people who object to the first person (singular or plural) usually
have some idea that avoiding sounds more formal or objective. And, for
many years, this idea was more or less unquestioned. However, over the
last two or three decades, the language has become more informal along
with the culture, and more people accept the use of the first person in
contexts where it was once avoided.
Having grown up in the middle of this change, I prefer the first person.
I think the formality and objectivity of avoiding it is mostly an
illusion or an effort to avoid responsibility. But, then, I'm as bound
by my culture and times as anyone.
--
Bruce Byfield, Outlaw Communications
(bbyfield -at- axionet -dot- com) (604) 421-7189 or 687-2133 X. 269
www.outlawcommunications.com (updated 25 Jan 1998)
"Spider spins its heart out, fox goes home alone,
Wisdom is a snake waiting underneath a stone,
Refuge is in silence or in any stony place,
I will not share your pity, your laws, or your disgrace."
--Oyster Band
