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RE: Which style of giving instructions is more effective?
Subject:RE: Which style of giving instructions is more effective? From:"Porrello, Leonard" <lporrello -at- illumina -dot- com> To:"Combs, Richard" <richard -dot- combs -at- Polycom -dot- com>, Ryan Pollack <ryan -at- clicksecurity -dot- com>, "techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com> Date:Wed, 19 Dec 2012 23:36:46 +0000
Yes, a couple of other people corrected me (in private) about my mistaken claim that "To" in "To restart..." is a preposition. But I am confused. Did Kat and Bill say something about what part of speech "To" is?
Regardless, that I was wrong about the part of speech doesn't change the gist of what I was saying. "To restart" is a relatively weak verb compared to "Restart" or "Enter". If I were skimming a procedure, "To" would just get in my way. "To" is just one more little thing my brain has to process while I am trying to engage it to read directions to solve a problem.
-----Original Message-----
From: Combs, Richard [mailto:richard -dot- combs -at- Polycom -dot- com]
Sent: Wednesday, December 19, 2012 1:57 PM
To: Porrello, Leonard; Ryan Pollack; techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
Subject: RE: Which style of giving instructions is more effective?
Porrello, Leonard wrote:
> For what it's worth, I don't like starting procedural steps or
> references with prepositions (for example, "To" in "To restart ....").
> Prepositions don't give the reader useful information.
It's not a preposition. "To restart" is a verb (the infinitive).
Kat and Bill are correct.
Richard G. Combs
Senior Technical Writer
Polycom, Inc.
richardDOTcombs AT polycomDOTcom
303-223-5111
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rgcombs AT gmailDOTcom
303-903-6372
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