RE: future tense vs present tense

Subject: RE: future tense vs present tense
From: <Brian -dot- Henderson -at- mitchell1 -dot- com>
To: <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com>
Date: Wed, 11 Jan 2012 09:21:24 -0800

How about if the intent is to inform that it's a side-effect of pressing
ENTER that changes will be saved? But that the primary purpose of the
ENTER pressing is something else entirely? Does it then become
appropriate?

I know it's a somewhat farfetched scenario, but that's kind of the sense
I got reading the original example.

-Brian H.

-----Original Message----- From: Leonard Porrello

I'm not sure why, in instructions, you would ever say, "After you press
ENTER...." Instead wouldn't you want to use an imperative: "Press
ENTER." From that, "changes are saved" or "the application saves your
changes" follows. And as Dan suggests, "Press ENTER to save your
changes" would be best.

I would use the future perfect only in introductory material, a theory
of operation doc, or requirements documentation. I can see no place for
it in step by step instructions.

--

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Create and publish documentation through multiple channels with Doc-To-Help.
Choose your authoring formats and get any output you may need. Try
Doc-To-Help, now with MS SharePoint integration, free for 30-days.
http://www.doctohelp.com

---
You are currently subscribed to TECHWR-L as archive -at- web -dot- techwr-l -dot- com -dot-

To unsubscribe send a blank email to
techwr-l-leave -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
or visit http://lists.techwr-l.com/mailman/options/techwr-l/archive%40web.techwr-l.com


To subscribe, send a blank email to techwr-l-join -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com

Send administrative questions to admin -at- techwr-l -dot- com -dot- Visit
http://www.techwhirl.com/email-discussion-groups/ for more resources and info.

Looking for articles on Technical Communications? Head over to our online magazine at http://techwhirl.com

Looking for the archived Techwr-l email discussions? Search our public email archives @ http://techwr-l.com/archives


Follow-Ups:

References:
future tense vs present tense: From: Harvey, Jon
RE: future tense vs present tense: From: Porrello, Leonard

Previous by Author: RE: Ideas for Help 2.0
Next by Author: RE: Editing mp4 files (By Golly)
Previous by Thread: RE: future tense vs present tense
Next by Thread: RE: future tense vs present tense


What this post helpful? Share it with friends and colleagues:


Sponsored Ads