active vs. passive voice

[Leonard C. Porrello]

Good question. I was assuming the reader would read both sentences
before carrying out the directions. In other words, he's going to read,
"1. Click <New Entry>. The New Entry window will appear" in its entirety
before he gets around to actually clicking <New Entry>. So, the event
that takes place after he clicks <New Entry> actually occurs in the
future. Hence, the way I formulated the sentence is most mimetic of
reality (according to my assumption). And although I do not have strong
objections to what I think you are suggesting, namely, "1. Click <New
Entry>. The New Entry window appears," it seems to me that this
formulation does not represent reality quite as well (as it is entirely
in the present). Finally, perhaps it is just me, but I don't see any
valid warrant for your inference that the results will seem
disassociated in my formulation. That assumption appears to me to be
logically fallacious and contrary to common sense. If my wife where to
ask me, "What are you gonna to do?" and I responded, "I'm gonna to go to
the store," it wouldn't make sense for her to assume that I am first
going to the barber. In fact, if I did say, "I'm gonna go to the store"
and later returned bald (whereas before leaving I had a full head of
hair), some explanation would be wanted.

 

Regarding your second comment, it looks to me like you didn't read the
thread or you are trying to pick a fight. I wasn't trying to settle
issue of the magicality of "appear" or its suitability compared to
"open"--nor am I interested in doing so. I think I indicated as much
when I said, "Admittedly, ["appear"] is evocative of the idea of magic
to some, but I've found it to be better than the alternatives." In spite
of that, I am currently more than half persuaded that "open" might be
the better alternative.

 

Leonard C. Porrello

SoleraTec LLC

www.soleratec.com

 

 

________________________________

From: Fred Ridder [mailto:docudoc at hotmail.com] 
Sent: Thursday, March 27, 2008 12:39 PM
To: Leonard C. Porrello; techwr-l at lists.techwr-l.com
Subject: RE: active vs. passive voice

 

> From: Leonard.Porrello at SoleraTec.com

> (B) "1. Click <New Entry>. The New Entry window will appear."
 
Why introduce the future tense? I don't see that it adds any 
meaning. In fact, it seems to dissociate the result from its
cause because it carries some implication that the appearance 
of the window might not be immediate.
 
And it still doesn't address the objection of the people who
believe that the verb "appear" is somehow supernatural 
because it is the opposite of "disappear".