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In context, though, the passive version can sometimes make for smoother reading. My general rule of thumb is that each sentence should establish context at the

by kd5bjo 3y ago

In context, though, the passive version can sometimes make for smoother reading. My general rule of thumb is that each sentence should establish context at the beginning by referring to the preceding material and then introduce its new idea at the end— Whether it’s best to start with the maintainer or the pull request depends on which of those you’ve already been discussing. (I didn’t come up with this idea, but I unfortunately can’t remember where it came from)

svat 3y ago
Possibly from here? * The Science of Scientific Writing (1990) by George Gopen and Judith Swan: https://web.archive.org/web/20240120063715/https://www.americanscientist.org/blog/the-long-view/the-science-of-scientific-writing https://web.archive.org/web/20240120063715/https://www.ameri... They say: > In our experience, the misplacement of old and new information turns out to be the No. 1 problem in American professional writing today. […] Put in the topic position [the beginning of the sentence] the old information that links backward; put in the stress position [the end of the sentence] the new information you want the reader to emphasize. It's a useful article, that I also mentioned in this answer: https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/85286/why-do-researchers-sometimes-use-extremely-complicated-english-sentences-to-conv/85472#85472:~:text=The%20other%20article%20(The%20Science%20of%20Scientific%20Writing https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/85286/why-do-re... — see also this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jLPCdDp_LE0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jLPCdDp_LE0 of Judy Swan, one of the co-authors (the accompanying handout is https://web.archive.org/web/20170331212200/https://www.cmu.edu/student-org/pcr/media-files/pcr-sessions/swan_summary.pdf https://web.archive.org/web/20170331212200/https://www.cmu.e...).

by kd5bjo 3y ago

svat 3y ago

Possibly from here? * The Science of Scientific Writing (1990) by George Gopen and Judith Swan: https://web.archive.org/web/20240120063715/https://www.americanscientist.org/blog/the-long-view/the-science-of-scientific-writing https://web.archive.org/web/20240120063715/https://www.ameri... They say: > In our experience, the misplacement of old and new information turns out to be the No. 1 problem in American professional writing today. […] Put in the topic position [the beginning of the sentence] the old information that links backward; put in the stress position [the end of the sentence] the new information you want the reader to emphasize. It's a useful article, that I also mentioned in this answer: https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/85286/why-do-researchers-sometimes-use-extremely-complicated-english-sentences-to-conv/85472#85472:~:text=The%20other%20article%20(The%20Science%20of%20Scientific%20Writing https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/85286/why-do-re... — see also this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jLPCdDp_LE0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jLPCdDp_LE0 of Judy Swan, one of the co-authors (the accompanying handout is https://web.archive.org/web/20170331212200/https://www.cmu.edu/student-org/pcr/media-files/pcr-sessions/swan_summary.pdf https://web.archive.org/web/20170331212200/https://www.cmu.e...).