active vs. passive voice

[Suzette Leeming]

My opinion...

"is displayed" is passive, but as others have stated, often acceptable.
"displays" is unacceptable because it is a transitive verb.
"displays a list of blah blah blah" is acceptable.
"appears" is acceptable but not my favourite.
"opens" is preferred when referring to windows (as in "the report criteria
window opens").

Most important is consistency.

Suzette Leeming
Stouffville, ON



On Thu, Mar 27, 2008 at 11:16 AM, Mike Starr <
mikestarr-techwr-l at writestarr.com> wrote:

> Even though I'm in the minority (possibly even alone) in rejecting the
> MMOS received wisdom, I avoid passive voice by using a phrase like:
>
> "<product name> displays an Add User dialog box similar to the one shown
> here."
>
>  From my perspective, it reads much better and is much easier for the
> user to understand when I use this type of phrase. It also give me the
> added benefit of eliminating captions and figure numbers.
>
> However, I also believe it's important that all members of a team use
> the same approach. Get together with your team, thrash it out and come
> to an agreement on which approach to use. If there's a team lead, that
> person should listen to all sides of the discussion with an open mind
> and make a decision. Incorporate that decision into your corporate
> documentation style guide and move on.
>
> Mike
> --
> Mike Starr                            WriteStarr Information Services
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>
> Michelle Vina-Baltsas wrote:
> > I've read many threads on this listserv related to the use of "appears"
> > vs. "displays" or "is displayed". During a meeting yesterday, with my
> > fellow tech writers, we had a heated discussion about whether we should
> > use "is displayed" or "displays" when writing a result (For example,
> > "Select the XYZ button. The EXY dialog box is displayed.") One writer
> > insisted that the use of  "is displayed" should not be used because it
> is
> > in the passive voice. To be honest, my head was spinning so quickly that
> I
> > decided to refrain from offering my opinion. I did tell them I'd
> > investigate though.
> >
> > Is the use of "is displayed" passive voice?
> >
> > Thank you,
> > Michelle
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