Agency in writing

[lintool]

In my writing, I like to be clear in terms of agency, i.e., who's doing what.

• Before: Comparing row (1) and row (2), this condition beats that condition...
• After: Comparing row (1) and row (2), we see that this condition beats that condition...
• Explanation: The gerund phrase ("Comparing...") implies someone doing the comparison, so I prefer to be explicit.
• Alternative1: A comparison between row (1) and row (2) shows that this condition beats that condition...
• Alternative2: Table 2 shows that this condition beats that condition, as seen in row (1) vs. row (2).

Another example, models don't do anything. They are static artifacts. People (e.g., researchers) create/build/train them.

• Before: DPR trains two encoders...
• After: DPR is comprised of two encoders...
• Alternative: We train a DPR model...