atw: Re: Hemingway
- From: Bob T <bob.trussler@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: austechwriter@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Fri, 14 Feb 2014 16:17:19 +1100
Howard and others,
When I started as a technical writer, I was told to avoid 'appears' and to
use 'is displayed', as in
'a dialog box is displayed',
NOT 'a dialog box appears'.
There was a mention by my mentor about frightening some folks with
ghost-like dialog boxes appearing.
I was more concerned about dialog boxes with poor layout, confusing logic,
and bad grammar. Don't get me started on that topic.
As for Hemingway, I did not find it useful.
Bob T
On 14 February 2014 15:43, Warren Lewington <wjlewington@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> I got ticked for being to active voiced in my last essay returned from
> marking in February. I'll get marked down on the last one about shell-shock
> too...
>
>
>
> Oh well.
>
>
>
> I agree that the active voice does work better for technical writing,
> online content, and journalistic writing. But the passive is an important
> tool for delivering information.
>
>
>
> *From:* austechwriter-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:
> austechwriter-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] *On Behalf Of *Geoffrey
> *Sent:* Thursday, February 13, 2014 11:46 AM
>
> *To:* austechwriter@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
> *Subject:* atw: Re: Hemingway
>
>
>
> Howard, et alii
>
>
>
> I do not "champion" the passive voice. I simply recognise its importance
> in all forms of writing. (Indeed, my own writing is more active than
> passive.) I just get annoyed when supposedly authoritative sources (such
> as Plain English Foundation) insist that we should always prefer the active
> voice. And MS Word gives you a count of passive sentences (though rarely an
> accurate count), thus creating the misleading impression that all passives
> should be avoided.
>
>
>
> Cheers
>
>
>
> Geoffrey Marnell
>
> Principal Consultant
>
> Abelard Consulting Pty Ltd
>
> P: 03 9596 3456
>
> M: 0419 574 668
>
> F: 03 9596 3625
>
> Web: www.abelard.com.au
>
> FB: facebook.com/abelardconsulting<http://www.facebook.com/abelardconsulting>
>
> TW: @abelardconsult
>
>
>
> *From:* austechwriter-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [
> mailto:austechwriter-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx<austechwriter-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]
> *On Behalf Of *Howard Silcock
> *Sent:* Thursday, 13 February 2014 11:38 AM
> *To:* austechwriter@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
> *Subject:* atw: Re: Hemingway
>
>
>
> I had a look at the source code and think it may be JQuery rather than
> JavaScript that's causing the problem - I can run JavaScript OK. I'll
> try it at home.
>
>
>
> I expected Geoffrey to be apoplectic about this, with his hatred of the
> Flesch reading score and his championing of the passive! (In fact, he is
> quite calm and rational.)
>
>
>
> My cause for cynicism is that I very much doubt that a software package
> can even recognise adverbs or passives with much accuracy. (That's why I
> wanted to try it.) My experience with Word's grammar checker is that it
> often completely misunderstands the syntax of a sentence and reports errors
> where there aren't any - for example, thinking that this word is supposed
> to be the subject of that verb because one comes immediately after the
> other.
>
>
>
> Howard
>
>
>
> On 13 February 2014 11:24, Geoffrey <geoffrey@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>
> Let me be the Devil's Advocate: surely any writer worth their salt
> shouldn't need to rely on, or need help from, such a simplistic tool. Isn't
> a part of the maturing of a technical writer learning to recognise when
> the cognitive load of a sentence is likely to be too much for readers?
>
>
>
> And by the way: what's wrong with the passive voice? ("The *Print*dialog
> appears.")
>
>
>
> And what's wrong with adverbs? ("Press *firmly* on the button.")
>
>
>
> Geoffrey Marnell
>
> Principal Consultant
>
> Abelard Consulting Pty Ltd
>
> P: 03 9596 3456
>
> M: 0419 574 668
>
> F: 03 9596 3625
>
> Web: www.abelard.com.au
>
> FB: facebook.com/abelardconsulting<http://www.facebook.com/abelardconsulting>
>
> TW: @abelardconsult
>
>
>
> *From:* austechwriter-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:
> austechwriter-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] *On Behalf Of *Lana Brindley
> *Sent:* Thursday, 13 February 2014 11:14 AM
> *To:* austechwriter@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
> *Subject:* atw: Re: Hemingway
>
>
>
> Sure!
>
> Click on the blue "Write" button in the top left hand corner.
> Type or paste your text into the editor.
> Click on the blue "Edit" button in the top left hand corner.
>
> If the buttons don't work, it may be that you have javascript disabled in
> your environment.
>
> Lana
>
>
> On 13/02/14 10:10, Howard Silcock wrote:
>
> Hi Lana
>
>
>
> I'm not sure if it's something to do with the corporate environment in
> which I'm working, but none of the commands on the page your link is
> pointing to appear to do anything. Can you tell us how it's supposed to
> work?
>
>
>
> Howard
>
>
>
> On 13 February 2014 09:23, Lana Brindley <mail@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>
> No, not the author, an editing tool:
>
> http://www.hemingwayapp.com/
>
> Lana
>
> --
> Lana Brindley
> writer:speaker:blogger
> http://lanabrindley.com
>
> "Quantum mechanics: The dreams stuff is made of."
>
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>
>
>
>
> --
>
>
>
> Lana Brindley
>
> writer:speaker:blogger
>
> http://lanabrindley.com
>
>
>
> "Quantum mechanics: The dreams stuff is made of."
>
>
>
--
Bob Trussler
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