No: what I mean by "indirect" is changing "you can do x" to "the user can do x". This sort of deflective writing reduces the immediacy of this being information for the person who is reading it right then.
On Thu, Apr 7, 2016 at 6:38 PM, Dennis E. Hamilton <dennis.hamil...@acm.org> wrote: > > > > -----Original Message----- > > From: Jean Weber [mailto:jeanwe...@gmail.com] > > Sent: Thursday, April 7, 2016 10:38 > > To: documentation@global.libreoffice.org > > Subject: Re: [libreoffice-documentation] Getting Started 5.1 > > > > Active voice, direct speech (do this), and use of "you" (but not > > over-using "you" or the possessive "your") is standard modern > > technical writing in English. All of the books are written that way, > > and we should not even consider changing that. > > > > However, some writers (Peter Schofield in particular) tended to > > over-use "you" and "your," so I have been changing "your" to "the" in > > sentences like "When you have finished editing your image, add it to > > your document." becomes "When you have finished editing the image, add > > it to the document." He would also write things like, "To print part > > of a page, you do [X]" which I have been changing to "To print part of > > a page, do [X]" -- the "you" there isn't necessary. > [orcmid] > > What about "Complete editing the image and add it to the document" and > "Print part of a page is by [X]" or is that what you mean by indirect? > > > > --Jean > > > > -- > > To unsubscribe e-mail to: > > documentation+unsubscr...@global.libreoffice.org > > Problems? http://www.libreoffice.org/get-help/mailing-lists/how-to- > > unsubscribe/ > > Posting guidelines + more: http://wiki.documentfoundation.org/Netiquette > > List archive: http://listarchives.libreoffice.org/global/documentation/ > > All messages sent to this list will be publicly archived and cannot be > > deleted > > > -- > To unsubscribe e-mail to: documentation+unsubscr...@global.libreoffice.org > Problems? > http://www.libreoffice.org/get-help/mailing-lists/how-to-unsubscribe/ > Posting guidelines + more: http://wiki.documentfoundation.org/Netiquette > List archive: http://listarchives.libreoffice.org/global/documentation/ > All messages sent to this list will be publicly archived and cannot be > deleted > -- Andrew Wetmore http://cottage14.blogspot.com/ -- To unsubscribe e-mail to: documentation+unsubscr...@global.libreoffice.org Problems? http://www.libreoffice.org/get-help/mailing-lists/how-to-unsubscribe/ Posting guidelines + more: http://wiki.documentfoundation.org/Netiquette List archive: http://listarchives.libreoffice.org/global/documentation/ All messages sent to this list will be publicly archived and cannot be deleted
