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Subject:Re: extra words: unnecessary or educational? From:"Anameier, Christine A - Eagan, MN" <christine -dot- a -dot- anameier -at- usps -dot- gov> To:<techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Wed, 27 Aug 2003 10:04:13 -0500
Pamela asked:
"If deleting words from a sentence doesn't change meaning, is there ever
a reason to keep them?"
Interesting question. As Chuck said, it depends; but I generally prefer
conciseness. To me, the extra words aren't an optimal solution--they're
more of a symptom. When I catch myself adding an explanatory phrase in
parentheses, I usually stop and recast the sentence.
E
Using the transmission program, you can transfer files between the
system's hard disk and a connected workstation.
or, if we can assume the workstation is normally a connected
workstation, and if the transmission program is available from a menu,
F
Select [bold]File Transmission[/bold] from the Whoozis menu to transfer
files between the system and your workstation.
If I had to choose between A, B, and C, then I'd choose C -- longish,
but it spells it out pretty clearly.
