Re: Overuse of gerunds in headings

Subject: Re: Overuse of gerunds in headings
From: Janice Gelb <janice -dot- gelb -at- sun -dot- com>
To: techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
Date: Wed, 05 Apr 2006 09:08:21 +1000

Ron Hearn wrote:

"Understanding..." doesn't work for me either. It makes it sound like
what follows it is going to make the reader's head hurt.

Ron


-----Original Message-----
From: techwr-l-bounces+rhearn=cucbc -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
[mailto:techwr-l-bounces+rhearn=cucbc -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com] On Behalf
Of William Turner
Sent: Tuesday, April 04, 2006 3:33 PM
To: techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
Subject: Overuse of gerunds in headings

Whirlers,

I have worked in several Pubs departments where the standard heading
style was defined as requiring gerunds. That works fine for me when the
subject is Installing, Configuring, Restoring...stuff like that.
However, for an introductory chapter or section, am I breaking a
well-established standard by calling it, for example, "Introduction
to..." or "Overview of..."? I usually see, in similar situations, that
the author uses "Understanding ..." in order to conform to gerund
orthodoxy. For some unknown reason, that "Understanding ..." bugs me.


This situation happens when writers are told that
all headings must be parallel. I completely agree
that "Introduction to" or "Overview of" and the
like should be exceptions to overzealous consistency.
(And "Understanding" is particularly problematic as
the writer can attempt to explain things but there's
no guarantee that reading the section will actually
result in the reader understanding the material :-> )

-- Janice
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Follow-Ups:

References:
RE: Overuse of gerunds in headings: From: Ron Hearn

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