RE: Grammar Q

Subject: RE: Grammar Q
From: "Lauren" <lauren -at- writeco -dot- net>
To: "'McLauchlan, Kevin'" <Kevin -dot- McLauchlan -at- safenet-inc -dot- com>, "'Zen C'" <zenizenc -at- gmail -dot- com>, <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com>
Date: Thu, 17 Jan 2008 15:20:51 -0800

> From: McLauchlan, Kevin

> No style guide?
> Write one. Then use it to bludgeon anyone who disagrees with you.

Sounds like somebody is having a Monday (it's Thursday), but I agree with
all of the stuff about infinite lists and which person to use.

About infinite lists: one instructor I had taught that an infinite list,
such as list that ended with "etc.," should be replaced with a finite list
that began with "for example" or "such as" and didn't end with an infinite
term.

I also have strong aversions to second-person usage in documentation. I
read one help document that began nearly every sentence with "you" and
contained such statements as "you must..." and "...then you click..." I got
annoyed. Why was this document telling me what to do?! So I say, avoid
"you." Not *you* per se, but the term "you."

Lauren

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References:
RE: Grammar Q: From: McLauchlan, Kevin

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