Usage of second person or third person when writing procedures?

Subject: Usage of second person or third person when writing procedures?
From: "Hart, Geoff" <Geoff-H -at- MTL -dot- FERIC -dot- CA>
To: "TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com>
Date: Fri, 31 Aug 2001 12:36:41 -0400

Cindy Hill wonders: <<Our style guide is almost finished but have
conflicting source references as to second or third person usage. When
writing instructions, use the implied second or third person? Example...Eat
dinner before eating dessert or Dinner should be eaten before dessert. Does
anyone know which is correct when writing procedures?>>

Your first example (imperative voice) is almost always the best choice for
writing procedures because it identifies who should perform the action:
"you", the reader. Imperative writing is also shorter and more direct, both
of which are virtues when you're producing documentation. Your second
example has a place when it's important to conceal the actor or (more
rarely) when the actor is less important than the action. But in procedural
information, you'll rarely need to conceal the actor, and information for
which the actor is irrelevant is generally weak or redundant, and thus
something that you can safely delete*.

* The obvious exception is contextual information, which provides context
but does not require action on the part of the reader. Even then, you can
generally write something much clearer, shorter, and more helpful in the
active voice.

--Geoff Hart, FERIC, Pointe-Claire, Quebec
geoff-h -at- mtl -dot- feric -dot- ca
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