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My dictionary (a Webster's) says that "display" is a transitive verb. To use
it as you have ("the GHI window displays") is incorrect, as transitive verbs
require an object.
Your previous editor may have dinged you because "the GHI window appears" is
in the passive voice. The construct is pretty common, though (probably
because no one wants to say, "the application displays the GHI window").
Chris Musser
Technical Writer
Webridge, Inc.
503.601.4259
> -----Original Message-----
> From: bogucki91030 -at- yahoo -dot- com [mailto:bogucki91030 -at- yahoo -dot- com]
> My last tech editor would ding me if I used 'appears'
> instead of 'displays' when describing the action a
> window or other grahical element "takes" (for lack of
> a better word) when you click on it.
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