Re: His/Her v. Their

[Gene Kim-Eng <techwr -at- genek -dot- com>]

Mine was 1975.  I don't recall gender neutrality being raised as an issue
in technical documents.  Back then, it was just avoid the use of
third-person narratives.  The writing most preferred was second-person
imperative, and a few years later writing for translation added a
preference for avoiding pronouns, which makes the rewrite of Leionard's
examples more like:

Students: complete all assigned homework.
Provide all requested help.
Always agree when customers argue
Secretaries: keep tempers in check.
Janitors: respect employers.
Plumbers: provide own tools.
Nurses: be kind to all patients.

A good test is, can you add the words "or else" to the end of the
statement?  If so, you're in good shape.

Gene Kim-Eng




On Fri, Oct 26, 2012 at 2:15 PM, Lauren <lauren -at- writeco -dot- net> wrote:

>
> When did I have a technical writing class?  Like 1994 or so.  Back then, I
> learned about gender neutral writing and since then, I have challenged
> myself by finding "impossible" passages to rewrite without gender.
>
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