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Re: pronouns and portfolios--bringing it back tech writing
Subject:Re: pronouns and portfolios--bringing it back tech writing From:Bonnie Granat <bgranat -at- att -dot- net> To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Mon, 09 Apr 2001 23:27:36 -0400
Brian Hoskins wrote:
>
> <<I like using "they" even with a singular verb. The only thing stopping me
> is that its usage distracts the grammatically attuned. Occasionally I'll
> use it, but I choose the audience carefully.>>
>
> While I am quite happy to use "they" and it's derivatives, I fail to see the
> need for the singular verb following it.
It's not the singular verb that I think
people here are talking about. It's the
pronoun agreeing in number with its
antecedent.
Here's an example of what my company's
documents contained six months ago:
When the caller dials your extension
and you are on the phone, they will be
sent to your voice mail.
Now our documents say:
When callers dial your extension and
you are on the phone, they will be sent
to your voice mail.
Sometimes the problem sentence is not as
easy to fix as this illustration is, and
I might spend five minutes working on a
construction that is considered standard
written English. Until "they" no longer
means more than one, I shall not allow a
single singular "they" to sneak by me.
Happily, I've converted my colleagues on
this issue and on the issue of not using
"then" as anything but what it is -- an
adverb. Because it is incorrect to
write, "I ate dinner, took a walk,
easily fell asleep at nine o'clock"
(unless you're writing fiction, in which
such a construction is acceptable), it
is also incorrect to write, "Enter a
name and an address, then click OK."
Another happy report I can make is that
I was successful in persuading the doc
dept. at my company (my manager,
principally) to formally adopt the
Microsoft Manual of Style for Technical
Publications as its primary style guide.
I should probably say Andrew Plato's
view of what's okay in the world of
documentation is okay by me, because had
I not walked into such a challenging
situation, I would not be enjoying the
professional satisfaction I am now
enjoying. But I won't.
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