Re: Out of style?

[Bruce Byfield <bbyfield -at- axionet -dot- com>]

Longtime tech writer wrote:
> 
> I dutifully comply with some styles I don't like. It's
> part of the job. But others make me cringe. I'm
> neither a prescriptive linguist, nor an editor. But it
> seems to me we're dumbing down rules for no good
> reason.

You aren't out of date, and your fellow writers aren't dumbing down the
rules of grammar. You're simply being made aware of how much grammar and
style are a matter of choice.

Capitalizing key words in a title has been a standard for centuries.
However, it involves a judgement call. Personally, I would rarely bother
capitalizing prepositions and other small words, but many people do. I
don't think that it has any effect on clarity or readability either way,
so I suggest you not worry about it.

As for the colon, you're right that a colon could be used as you
indicated. In fact, I'd probably use it in the way you suggest, because
it indicates that an elaboration is to follow, while a period doesn't.
However, I'd argue this case in terms of readability, not correct or
incorrect punctuation. There's nothing wrong with using a period the way
your colleagues - it's just not as effective as using a colon. Probably,
it's a sign that your colleagues are unsure of how to use a colon; they
may have learned one structure in which a colon is appropriate, and
never extracted the general way that one is used.

So, by my reckoning, that's one against you and one for. However, you
might want to ask yourself why you are focusing on these matters.
They're not terrifically important, yet you feel strongly about them.
Why? I'm not going to try to psychoanalyze you anonymously, and from a
distance, but I will observe that, nine times out of ten, nitpicking
about grammar is really about the relations involved rather than the
issues being discussed.


-- 
Bruce Byfield 604.421.7177 bbyfield -at- axionet -dot- com

"Any view of things that is not strange is false."
-Neil Gaiman, "Soft Places"

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