active vs. passive voice

[hls_ut at comcast.net]

I don't understand why folks think "appears" is so 
magical sounding.  Are these magical?

- My reflection appears in still water.
- When the earth rotates, the sun appears from 
  behind the mountain.
- When the sun hits me, my shadow appears on the ground.
- When you heat the paper, the letters you wrote using
  lemon juice appear.
- When my car dries after a rain shower, water spots appear.
- When I holler "DINNER", my husband appears.

OK, maybe the last one is magical.

--
---------------hls_ut at comcast.net

 -------------- Original message ----------------------
From: "Dan Goldstein" <DGoldstein at riverainmedical.com>
> I don't use "appears" in technical documentation.
> 
> (5'7", hairy except for the scalp, not much disdain)
> 
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Nicola Harlow
> > Sent: Thursday, March 27, 2008 11:22 AM
> > To: Nancy Allison; techwr-l at lists.techwr-l.com
> > Subject: RE: active vs. passive voice
> > 
> > I don't like 'appears' in documentation either.  
> > I'm 5'10" and not a hairy biker, however I can 
> > muster up quite a lot of disdain when I need to.
> > 
> 
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