How to use "allow to do something" without mentioning a person?
Instead of the probably correct structure:
Our software XYZ allows the user to resize and modify PNG images.
I'm looking for a way to do it without specifying a person (or people):
Our software XYZ allows to resize and modify PNG images.
Does the latter sound strange for a native English speaker?
Which one is more idiomatic? ("to allow somebody to do something" vs. "to allow to do something")
Is there another way to say it without involving the user with another verb than "allow"?
Note: the goal of the sentence is to list the features of a software product, and here is a French sentence I was trying to translate:
Notre logiciel XYZ permet de redimensionner les images au format PNG et de les modifier.
Solution 1:
Hmm, the "ultimate" solution really depends on the kind of material you are translating. For example, is the style more like "advertising" (bragging about it in a single paragraph) or "user manual"?
If it's "advertising" then
Our software XYZ allows PNG image resizing as well as editing.
That follows the "tone" of the original almost 100%
Our software XYZ allows PNG image resizing and editing.
The reason for "editing" instead of "modifying" : it's well known, accepted, usual way of saying it. Many languages don't have good 1-1 translation for "editing" and then they use "modifying".
Our software XYZ makes resizing and editing PNG images easy.
The reason for "makes" and "easy" : because it's advertising :-) You wouldn't be bragging if you didn't think that it makes something easy.
Our software XYZ helps with PNG image resizing and editing.
The reason for "helps with" - to make it less braggy and to avoid "allows" which is too literal. The original is really saying "makes it possible to resize and edit PNG images". So, OK that's another viable variant:
Our software XYZ makes it possible to resize and edit PNG images.
If the style is "user manual", then:
Our software XYZ lets you resize and edit PNG images.
The reason: it's more active, engaging. Creates the atmosphere in which someone is having a conversation with user. Engaging => not dull :-)
Solution 2:
Your unedited question had a French sentence in it that I interpret as:
Our software XYZ allows the resizing and conversion of PNG images.
Please note that the edit appears to have changed convert to modify, which have different meanings with respect to image files.
To answer the three questions posed above, though...
"Our software XYZ allows to resize and modify PNG images."
Does the latter sound strange for a native English speaker?
This does sound strange, yes. It could be reworded as I wrote above, or you could focus the images depending on the verb tense you desire:
Our software XYZ allows PNG images to be resized and modified.
Which one is more idiomatic? ("to allow somebody to do something" vs. "to allow to do something")
The second one does not strike me as grammatically correct, so the first one is more idiomatic by default.
Is there another way to say it without involving "the user" with another verb than "allow"?
You could use a number of synonyms that would retain the same basic structure of the sentence:
Our software XYZ permits the resizing and conversion of PNG images.
Our software XYZ enables the resizing and conversion of PNG images.
Our software XYZ provides the ability to resize and convert PNG images.
One final note: I don't know the complete context in which this text would belong, but it feels to me like the "Our software" is redundant, and you could probably simply write:
XYZ can convert and resize PNG images.
Solution 3:
Almost the same as a couple of other answers:
Our software XYZ supports resizing and modification of PNG images.
Solution 4:
Instead of using infinitive verbs (i.e. to resize/to modify), you can choose the noun forms "resizing" and "modification", then use these with prepositional phrases. It then sounds natural to use "allows" without mentioning the person/user. It is common in English to rephrase this way.
"Our software XYZ allows (for) resizing and modification of PNG images.",
Solution 5:
The problem here is due to insisting on using the verb to allow. Saying 'allows the user to resize' sounds awkward because it leaves the impression that the software has some kind of authority to forbid or allow the user to do things, and in this case it mercifully does the latter. This is, presumably, not an impression that one wants to give to potential purchasers of the software. On the other hand 'allows to resize' is syntactically awkward, because it makes one wonder: allows whom/what?
One can avoid the problem entirely by saying that the software makes it possible to resize and modify the images. While the French word permettre is most often translated as to permit or to allow, it is in some contexts, such as this one, better translated as to make possible. (The initially posted version of this question made it clear that it arose in the course of translating a French text.)