RE: Pet Peeves

Subject: RE: Pet Peeves
From: "Combs, Richard" <richard -dot- combs -at- Polycom -dot- com>
To: "Diane Brennan" <dalaine00 -at- yahoo -dot- com>, "TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com>
Date: Thu, 15 Mar 2007 14:11:57 -0600

Diane Brennan wrote:

> I've been doing technical writing since 1991. Context is key.

Quite correct, youngster.

<snip>
>
> >>In the original, it's perfectly clear.
>
> It isn't any clearer than the above examples.

But we were discussing a specific edit -- replacing "his" with "the" --
in a specific sentence. The question at hand was, "Which is better,
example A or example B?" I maintain it's A.

Your examples are clear, I agree. But your context is procedures for
accomplishing tasks. The sentence in question is descriptive prose --
"John set his user settings" -- not procedural or task-oriented. Wrong
context.

Richard


------
Richard G. Combs
Senior Technical Writer
Polycom, Inc.
richardDOTcombs AT polycomDOTcom
303-223-5111
------
rgcombs AT gmailDOTcom
303-777-0436
------




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References:
Re: Pet Peeves: From: Diane Brennan

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