Choosing Tense and Voice in a Process Description
You are writing a 150-word description of how your school's recycling system works, for a new student handbook. The process has five steps, performed by different people at different times. Your draft contains: 'The bins are being emptied by the cleaners every Tuesday. Then the paper is taken to the depot. Students should have been sorting the waste before collection.' A classmate says the draft sounds 'confusing and too passive'. The handbook editor wants clear instructions for new students.
1. Diagnose the grammatical problems in the three sentences and explain the effect on the reader.
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The first sentence uses present continuous passive 'are being emptied', which suggests a temporary action happening now, whereas the routine needs the present simple passive 'are emptied'. The third uses 'should have been sorting', a past modal perfect that implies the students failed to do something in the past, which is wrong for a general rule; 'should sort' expresses the ongoing expectation. The mixed tenses make a routine process read as a sequence of problems. The judgement call is that the passive itself is not the fault; the editor's complaint about 'too passive' is imprecise, and the real issue is tense and aspect selection.
2. Rewrite the three sentences for the handbook, justifying your choices.
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Example: 'Cleaners empty the bins every Tuesday. The paper is then taken to the depot. Students sort their waste before placing it in the bins.' I use active voice where the agent matters to the reader, namely what students must do, because instructions are clearer with a named actor. I keep the passive for the depot step because the agent is irrelevant to new students. I use present simple throughout because the process is a routine. The judgement call is that voice should follow communicative need, not a blanket rule, and the audience of new students needs to know what they personally must do.
3. The editor asks for 'clear instructions'. Explain one further change you would make beyond grammar.
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I would add a short sequencing signpost and a direct instruction at the point of action, for example 'First, check the sign above each bin.' Grammar alone does not make instructions clear; readers need to know the order and their own responsibility. Signposts such as 'first' and 'then' reduce the effort of reconstructing sequence, and a direct imperative addresses the reader. The judgement call is recognising that the editor's request is about function, not just correctness, so a grammatically flawless text can still fail the brief.