Re: active vs. passive voice

[Bastette <bastette -at- sonic -dot- net>]

On Thu, Mar 27, 2008 at 11:24:24AM -0400, Suzette Leeming wrote:

 > 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").

What about "This {displays/opens/brings up} the XYZ {window/dialog box}",
where "this" is the action described in the previous (or same) instruction.

Eg:

1. Click on the New Entry button. This opens the New Entry window (dialog,
   etc).

2. ...

Any objections to that?

Joyce
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