Re: Use of first, second, and third person in technical writing

Subject: Re: Use of first, second, and third person in technical writing
From: Brian Gordon <elasticsoul2003 -at- yahoo -dot- ca>
To: "TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com>
Date: Wed, 17 Aug 2005 15:39:32 -0400 (EDT)


I always use second person. Passive voice sounds
terrible and I believe can be quite difficult to
translate. Third person can also be confusing.

Eg:
Click the Enter key. [The "You" before "Click" is
understood.]
When you program the XXX...

All the best,
Brian

--- Lisa Dugger <saveena -dot- kitten -at- gmail -dot- com> wrote:

>
> Which is proper? Since I rarely see anything in
> first person, I
> gather that first person is not the desired
> viewpoint. In the past I
> have written using second person because I wrote for
> my team members
> or individual users. Now I have an official tech
> writing position and
> I am unsure of which perspective to use. Third
> person sounds so
> stiff, but is it more professional?
>

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References:
Use of first, second, and third person in technical writing: From: Lisa Dugger

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