Re: Preferred Sentence Structure

Subject: Re: Preferred Sentence Structure
From: Lauren <lauren -at- writeco -dot- net>
To: techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
Date: Thu, 27 Dec 2018 15:54:42 -0800

On 12/27/2018 1:44 PM, Robert Lauriston wrote:

That sounds like maybe you got carried away by a tip on avoiding
passive voice. Infinitives have their place.

I know. It wound up being a habit I still need to account for. I use infinitives when necessary, and I sometimes confidently split them.

On the other hand, they can be a sign of unnecessary wordiness. I
don't think many people would take the terse "See <link>" as an
imperative.

The example provided the word, "see." Styles are changing very fast and there is not a clear path to take. When dealing with a document that contains old and verbose styles of providing references and adding new text, sometimes, it is best to borrow from the old style before committing to new styles. There is not yet a consensus on how to use hyperlinked references. I think it is best to attempt to use what is provided, clear out verbosity, and add in new style preferences.

The evolution of how to use hyperlinks has spawned some discussions. Here are discussions on the "more" link. It is relevant to show how using a title for the link became a preference. But now a document name or title is preferred, how do you provide the reference without the pedantry of spelling out, "this is a reference to what was just described"? And how do you maintain consistency with a document writing style that you cannot change?

2012 - https://www.smashingmagazine.com/2012/06/links-should-never-say-click-here/

2015 - https://www.nngroup.com/articles/learn-more-links/

No date - https://www.followbright.com/blog/post/link-text-part-1-how-learn-more-can-lead-to-clicking-less/

My preference is to not mention the that the link is a link and to make certain that the linked text explains the link enough for the intelligent reader.



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Follow-Ups:

References:
Preferred Sentence Structure: From: Paul Hanson
Re: Preferred Sentence Structure: From: Lauren
Re: Preferred Sentence Structure: From: Robert Lauriston

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