RE: Don't say what you CANNOT do in documents

Subject: RE: Don't say what you CANNOT do in documents
From: "Cheyne, Andrew" <Andrew -dot- Cheyne -at- vicorp -dot- com>
To: "TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com>
Date: Wed, 21 Apr 2004 18:10:43 +0100


Not really. I'd say that it was getting into the issue of writing in the way
that most of your readership find most easy to read. In any case, it isn't
separate from linguistic drift because it's the difference in the rates of
linguistic drift in the UK and US that causes this situation.

My personal view is that in technical writing it's safer to be a little
conservative about adoting new usages and neologisms. If a word or usage is
"becoming accepted", that means to me that there are still some people to
whom it's not yet acceptable.

/a


-----Original Message-----
From: Downing, David [mailto:DavidDowning -at- Users -dot- com]
Sent: 21 April 2004 17:49
To: TECHWR-L
Subject: RE: Don't say what you CANNOT do in documents



Well, this is getting into the issue of UK vs. US English, which is
separate and distinct from the issue of linguistic drift, which is what
John seemed to be getting at.

-----Original Message-----
From: Cheyne, Andrew [mailto:Andrew -dot- Cheyne -at- vicorp -dot- com]
Sent: Tuesday, April 20, 2004 12:10 PM
Subject: RE: Don't say what you CANNOT do in documents


"Criteria" used as a singular sounds very wrong in the UK. Wrong enough
to undermine the authority of the document, I'd say.

/a

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

ROBOHELP X5 - ALL NEW VERSION. Now with Word 2003 support, Content
Management, Multi-Author support, PDF and XML support and much more!

Now is the best time to buy - special end of month promos, including:
$100 mail-in rebate; Free online orientation on content management
functionality; Huge savings on support and future product releases;
PLUS Great discounts on RoboHelp training. OFFER EXPIRES April 30th!
Call 1-800-358-9370 or visit: http://www.ehelp.com/techwr-l

---
You are currently subscribed to techwr-l as:
archiver -at- techwr-l -dot- com
To unsubscribe send a blank email to leave-techwr-l-obscured -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com
Send administrative questions to ejray -at- raycomm -dot- com -dot- Visit
http://www.raycomm.com/techwhirl/ for more resources and info.



Previous by Author: RE: Latin singular and plurals in English mediums <g>
Next by Author: RE: Don't say what you CANNOT do in documents
Previous by Thread: RE: Don't say what you CANNOT do in documents
Next by Thread: RE: Don't say what you CANNOT do in documents


What this post helpful? Share it with friends and colleagues:


Sponsored Ads