[tei-council] Third-person vs. First-person in the Guidelines

[Brett Barney]

On Aug 6, 2012, at 10:35 AM, Lou Burnard wrote:

> On 06/08/12 15:11, Rebecca Welzenbach wrote:
> 
>> * First-person (in which case it may be necessary to check for
>> ambiguity about whether "we" refers to the editors, the Technical
>> Council, all TEI users, or some other group, and find a way to
>> document/clarify this).
> 
> "We" is almost always (sfaik) used in passages of formal textual 
> exposition, and thus refers both to the reader and the authorial voice.

I hadn't consciously articulated it this way, but Lou's right here, I think. And I think it's an effective construction. Of the examples Rebecca gives from chapter 1, the last is an exception:

* "We do not describe them in detail here"

I wouldn't mind having in the style guide a non-binding hint to avoid such authorial "we." In their stead, passive constructions would be dandy, I think.

>> * Third-person (in which case sentences currently using "we" will
>> probably be flipped around into the passive voice, e.g. from "which we
>> call a module" to "which is called a module" This annoys some readers
>> and writers more than others).
> 
> Annoys the hell out of me
> 
>> * Or something like "choose clarity and efficiency of language over
>> any particular voice"
> 
> That's the one for me!
> 
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----------------
Brett Barney
Associate Research Professor
Center for Digital Research in the Humanities
bbarney2 at unl.edu