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RE: non-parallelism - looking for the ok to let it go...
Subject:RE: non-parallelism - looking for the ok to let it go... From:"Combs, Richard" <richard -dot- combs -at- Polycom -dot- com> To:'Monique Semp' <monique -dot- semp -at- earthlink -dot- net>, TechWR-L <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com> Date:Tue, 26 Jul 2011 22:42:41 -0700
Monique Semp wrote:
> The only issue is... thereâs just no good way to force parallelism in
> the diagramsâ text lists. I can get the âlevel 1â points to parallel
> without much awkwardness, but then the âlevel 2â points are all over
> the place: present-tense verbs, imperative verbs, nouns, phrases, you
> name it â itâs all in there.
>
> Iâm inclined to just let it go because the content *is* whatâs
> important (and perhaps Iâll have time or inspiration while theyâre
> performing their reviews to actually make real progress on the parallel
> dream), and Iâm looking for an ok from the tech writing community :-).
If time is limited and there are more pressing issues, I suggest aiming for "local parallelism." That is, make all the level 2 items under the first level 1 item parallel. Do the same for the level 2 items under the next level 1 item, but don't worry if those are different from the ones under the first level 1 item. And so forth.
When items in a single bullet list are inconsistent, it grates on me. But treating each new 2nd-level bullet list as an independent entity wouldn't bother me much. Especially since you've made the top-level items consistent.
IMHO, YMMV, etc.
Richard G. Combs
Senior Technical Writer
Polycom, Inc.
richardDOTcombs AT polycomDOTcom
303-223-5111
------
rgcombs AT gmailDOTcom
303-903-6372
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