Re: Carrying out?

[Chris Borokowski <athloi -at- yahoo -dot- com>]

Thanks to all who replied on this thread. I gained
some useful wisdom and am going to chat this up with
some colleagues when the time is right.

--- Geoff Hart <ghart -at- videotron -dot- ca> wrote:

> Chris Borokowski wondered: <<You might carry out
> your laundry, but is  
> this the best usage we can find for what is done
> when a command is  
> executed? Ex: To carry out the command, click Run.
> The lights on your  
> hard drive will flash as it is formatted.>>
> 
> The best solution is to eliminate all vague,
> non-specific phrasal  
> verbs and replace them with a verb that describes
> the actual action.  
> Here: "To format your hard drive, click Run."
> 
> If the context is already painfully clear (e.g., the
> sentence that  
> introduces a series of steps says "Perform the
> following steps to  
> format your hard drive"), you can simply eliminate
> the verb and list  
> the steps. The context is clear enough that (in most
> cases) it does  
> not require repetition. The exception is for an
> obvious situation  
> such as providing a warning. For example: "Warning:
> If you perform  
> the next step in this procedure, formatting will
> begin and all  
> information on your hard drive will be erased."
> 
> Note that in this example, the message does not just
> repeat a  
> description of the task: it conveys the meaning and
> consequences of  
> the task. That's important, particularly for readers
> who may not  
> understand the task fully.
> 
> 
> ----------------------------------------------------
> -- Geoff Hart
> ghart -at- videotron -dot- ca / geoffhart -at- mac -dot- com
> www.geoff-hart.com
> --------------------------------------------------
> Coming soon:  _Effective onscreen editing_
> (http://www.geoff-hart.com/ 
> home/onscreen-book.htm)
> 
> 


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http://user-advocacy.blogspot.com/
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