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Subject:RE: The word system From:"Jane Carnall" <jane -dot- carnall -at- digitalbridges -dot- com> To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Tue, 21 Aug 2001 12:16:55 +0100
Annika Hohenthal wrote:
>My colleague insists that you can only use the word
>'system' when you refer to really large and
>complicated systems, not when you talk about perhaps
>somewhat smaller systems belonging to a larger 'whole'
>(but that also compose of different units and are
>complicated, too...). I have never heard that it is
>somehow defined somewhere how big a system should be
>so that you could call it a system...
A system always refers to a grouping together of things (intellectual or
physical). But there is no rule to say that a system must be large. My
digestive system is considerably smaller <g> than the rail system that takes
me to work and back every day, but both are systems. That my digestive
system is composed of many smaller organic systems does not make either it
or them not systems.
A company or organisation may decide as a question of style that only large
systems are to be called systems, and that the smaller systems that compose
them are to be called something else (using such a style guide, I might
write: "the quality system is made up of many instructions and procedures" -
where each procedure is itself a system) but this is a style issue. People
do often confuse style and grammar, but this is a question that can be
resolved by checking in a good dictionary. (I like: <www.voycabulary.com>,
but there are many other online dictionaries, if you don't have access to a
hardcopy dictionary.) The listserv copyediting list is also a useful
resource: see <http://ce-l.blinn.com/>
Jane Carnall
Technical Writer, Digital Bridges, Scotland
Unless stated otherwise, these opinions are mine, and mine alone.
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