It’s not Telling the Future

Some expository writing is called technical writing.  Other types include essays, theses, and non-fiction articles. This rule applies particularly to technical writing, but it has its place anywhere you mention a result. Here’s the rule:

Use the present tense whenever you describe customary behavior, even if it takes place in the future.

The future is for when the time is important, when you want to be vague, or to add emotional emphasis.

A couple examples:

• When you turn the knob clockwise, the volume gets louder.
• Press Enter. The cursor moves to the beginning of the next line.
• Mercury will pass in front of the sun in thirteen years. (Present tense also works for this one if the context is the recurring behavior of celestial events.)
• Next Tuesday the axe will fall.
• If you turn the knob clockwise, the volume will get louder someday.
• I’ll mow the grass
• If I walk in that poison ivy, I will get a rash!

Rule of thumb: If you can use the present instead of future, use the present.

The rule used to be that you use “shall” with the second and third person (you, he, she, it, they) and “will” for the first person (I, we). Mercifully, that rule has gone by the wayside and we use “will” for everybody.

What happened to “shall”? It’s used for requirements, as if it were an imperative.

• The hull shall withstand incident pressure of 500 lb/square inch.
• All players shall wear the complete team uniform.
• You shall be home before midnight.

Well, you don’t see that last example so much any more, either.