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Subject:passive voice and parts of speech From:"ralph (r.f.) calistro" <calistro -at- BNR -dot- CA> Date:Wed, 11 May 1994 15:58:00 -0400
Len Olszewski wrote:
>I exercise caution when using any word as both a verb and as a noun in
>the same document. The word "display" falls into that category. Using a
>word as both parts of speech can confuse non-native speakers of English
>(or customers who do *not* speak English, but only have access to an
>English document), who rely on syntactic clues and context to deciper
>the text.
Good point. The use of a word as both a noun and a verb in a
document can cause problems. For that reason Simplified English,
the AECMA variety, stipulates the use of "display" as a noun. For
"display" as a verb, it suggests the use of the verb "show". The
more restrictive forms of controlled English, such as Simplified
English, often include a restriction on the parts of speech of a
word.
In the March edition of STC Intercom, which I just received,
I note the article on a presentation on Simplified English by
Sharon Stewart. She points out a number of rules to follow,
but the one dealing with the active voice needs further refinement.
Use the active voice whenever possible, and use the passive
voice only when necessary.
Ralph F. Calistro, Ph.D.
Northern Telecom
Ottawa, Canada
calistro -at- bnr -dot- ca
