Pronouns

Pronouns replace nouns. When you use pronouns in your writing, make sure that the pronoun correctly refers to the noun it replaces, known as its antecedent.

Follow these best practices for using personal pronouns in documentation:

Pronoun	When to use it	For more information
He, his, him She, hers, her	Avoid using gender-specific pronouns when referring to a general user or fictional persona for your documentation. Use a gender-neutral third-person pronoun instead.	Gender-neutral pronouns
It, its	Avoid vague phrasing using the third-person pronoun "it". Use a specific noun instead.	Vague pronouns
They, their, them	Use a gender-neutral third-person pronoun if you need to refer to a general user or a fictional persona.	Gender-neutral pronouns
We, our, us	Avoid using first-person pronouns except in the case of tutorial documentation. You can use the first-person plural pronoun "we" only if it's important to create a sense of community with the reader in a tutorial.	Personal pronouns
You, yours	Use the second-person singular pronoun "you" to address a single user directly. This applies to most cases in Splunk documentation.	Gender-neutral pronouns

Gender-neutral pronouns

Write for inclusivity and don't make assumptions about sex or gender. When you write Splunk documentation, avoid gender-specific and sexist language.

Most of the topics in Splunk documentation use the second-person singular pronoun, "you" and "your", to address a single user directly. If you have to write in the third person or refer to someone in the third person, make sure that you choose gender-neutral third-person pronouns, such as "they", "their", and "them".

In Splunk documentation, it's acceptable to use a plural pronoun with a singular antecedent when you refer to people. Use third-person plural pronouns when you refer to a person. Don't write "him or her" or "his or hers".

Do this

The end user must add lines of code to their app for it to work in Splunk Enterprise.

In most cases, you can make the antecedent plural to keep agreement with the pronoun.

Do this

End users must add lines of code to their app for it to work in Splunk Enterprise.

In many cases, and preferably, you can rewrite the sentence to be more direct.

Do this

You must add code to your app for it to work in Splunk Enterprise.

The following examples are not acceptable uses of pronouns in Splunk documentation:

Noninclusive

The end user must add lines of code to his or her app for it to work in Splunk Enterprise.

Sexist

The end user must add lines of code to her app for it to work in Splunk Enterprise.

Sexist

The end user must add lines of code to his app for it to work in Splunk Enterprise.

If you refer to an actual person in your writing, ask for their pronouns and use those. Don't assume or guess. If you need to create a fictional persona for your documentation, make sure to choose a gender-neutral fictitious name. See Example names and domains.

Personal pronouns

Use the second-person pronoun, "you", in Splunk documentation. Avoid first-person pronouns, such as "I", "our", "us", and "we". If you are writing a tutorial and find it valuable to create a sense of community with the reader, you can use the first-person plural pronoun "we". Do not use the first-person singular pronoun when writing Splunk documentation.

Use pronouns consistently

Use the same pronoun consistently on the same page to refer to your audience, general users, or a specific persona.

Do this

To configure this feature, you need to create a filter. When you get the success message, continue to the next page in the workflow.

Don't do this

To configure this feature, we need to create a filter. When you get the success message, continue to the next page in the workflow.

Relative pronouns

"That", "which", and "who" are relative pronouns and don't all mean the same thing.

That

"That" introduces an essential clause. If you remove the words after "that", the sentence doesn't make sense.

Do this

For HDFS working directory, provide the path in HDFS that you want Hunk to use as a working directory.

Which

"Which" introduces a nonessential clause. If you remove the words after "which", the sentence still makes sense, although it is less detailed.

Do this

Splunk Enterprise changes one of the default port settings in the server.conf file, which is one of the stanzas you copied but didn't edit.

Who

When referring to a person, use "who" instead of "that".

Vague pronouns

Avoid ambiguous references between a pronoun and its antecedent. Vague pronouns include "this", "that", "which", and "it". To add clarity, replace the vague pronoun with a noun.

Do this	Don't do this
Set the enableReduction value to true.	Set it to true.