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Subject:Re: How to deal with incorrect editing From:"Chuck Martin" <cm -at- writeforyou -dot- com> To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Mon, 29 Dec 2003 16:13:46 -0800
"Andrew Plato" <gilliankitty -at- yahoo -dot- com> wrote in message news:223690 -at- techwr-l -dot- -dot- -dot-
>
> "whitedh" <> wrote ...
>
> > I would like to be rich; our livelihoods are likely all at risk these
days.
> > However, we're writers and grammar is the cornerstone of our profession.
>
> No - it isn't. COMMUNICATION is the cornerstone of your profession.
Grammar is
> subservient to communication. Most managers and users don't care about
> high-n-mighty rules of grammar.
But they should. Well, managers should, anyway, at least if the product is
to be marketed in non-English-speaking locales. Poor grammar is costlier to
translate and can lead to unintelligible results in other languages.
Managers do care about bottom-line issues such as these.
>
> Being a grammar nazi might give you satisfaction, but it can really
irritate
> people. People who sign your paychecks, for example.
>
> Furthermore, part of the reason your profession is "at risk" is because
there
> are so many writers who are obsessed with trees (grammar) while ignoring
> forests (content). This infuriates people like me (managers) who need work
done
> (concepts communicated), not nitpicking over minutia.
>
Uh, isn't it your profession too?
But then, one of my pecadilllos, one that stuck in my little brian from that
wonderful Style in Technical Writing class so long, long ago, is knowing the
difference between "like" and "such as," where almost every writer, of
newspaper stories, of magazine articles, of advertising copy, either doesn't
know about or doesn' care about the difference. It is obsessive to notice
when the terms are used incorrectly? Is it obsessive to know, almost as
second nature, which one is correct when doing my own writing? Or does that
demonstrate an advanced level of skill in my craft? And isn't an advanced
level of skill one thing that managers want in those who work for them?
Perhaps obsession with grammar at an extreme level can be as dismaying as
font fondling, but attention to grammar ensures that concepts are
communicated clearly, concisely, and completely.
--
--
Chuck Martin
User Assistance & Experience Engineer
twriter "at" sonic "dot" net www.writeforyou.com
"I see in your eyes the same fear that would take the heart of me. The day
may come when the courage of Men fail, when we forsake our friends and break
all bonds of fellowship. But it is not this day! This day, we fight!"
- Aragorn
"All you have to decide is what to do with the time that is given you."
- Gandalf
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