Use imperatives for procedures.
In procedure writing, imperative constructions
produce concise, direct and clear instructions for users. Imperative mood commands
and requests. It requires clear and concrete verbs.
The following sentence is not imperative
(It is a passivized indicative). It does not specifically direct a user to action
which makes it unclear as an instruction in a procedure.
 |
Non-imperative: "The scanner should be cleaned before it is recalibrated." |
In the following example, the author
has made the sentence imperative which clarifies the instruction and makes the
sentence more concise (Whereas the sentence above is nine words long, the following
sentence has only six words). In this sentence, as is consistent with imperative
constructions, the subject is "[You]" and the verb is the direct and concrete
"clean":
 |
Imperative: [You] "Clean the scanner before recalibrating it." |