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On Mon, Feb 20, 2017 at 3:28 PM, Stuckey, Ginger <X2BVSHEW -at- southernco -dot- com>
wrote:
> Hi Ken,
>
> I wrote parts and service manuals for a garbage truck manufacturer in a
> state next door to you. We did it with the hyphen. If you want more
> examples.
>https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trailer_connectors_in_North_America
>https://www.etrailer.com/question-136174.html
>http://data.grammarbook.com/blog/numbers/hyphens-with-numbers/
>http://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/16/images/ch07_tab01.pdf
>http://writing-skills.com/how-to-write-numbers-part-2-when-to-use-hyphens
>
>
> Ginger Stuckey
> Technical Writer
> CB&A Project Management Services, LLC
> Assigned to Southern Company Technical Publications
> 205-992-5651
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: techwr-l-bounces+x2bvshew=southernco -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com [mailto:
> techwr-l-bounces+x2bvshew=southernco -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com] On Behalf Of
> Ken Poshedly
> Sent: Monday, February 20, 2017 2:19 PM
> To: TECHWR-L Writing <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com>
> Subject: punctuation et al. rules
>
> Here's a quickie.
>
> I work for a manufacturer of a China-based, heavy construction equipment.
> Now that's, REAL hardware.
>
> Most of our source material is English-language stuff is right from the
> company's offices in mainland China, where their English-language skills
> are fair at best. The remainder of our source material is what we here
> write IF we are lucky enough to have the machine here on our premises for
> photos and inspection.
>
> My American manager is a nice guy (about age 60, and I'm seven years
> older) but he is not a true tech writer. He is an ex-Marine who had written
> the technical stuff for a heavy equipment dealer where he was employed for
> some years, and very proud of it. And he certainly knows his stuff from a
> technical side of things. Absolutely. Many times, he'll forward a Word
> document for me to format (we use FrameMaker 11.0) that he has written and
> I'll usually find little stuff to fix, but then he'll quibble with me about
> it. I usually give in because he's the boss.
> In today's document from him is the phrase "7 pin connector". My fix was
> to simply add a hyphen to make it "7-pin connector". But he objected and I
> VERY diplomatically told him that in our industry, it is common to take
> mechanics and other factory workers with oodles of line experience and
> throw them in front of a keyboard to write the manuals, thus the rough
> grammar, etc. And blindly copying what somebody else wrote means
> replicating their errors (if any). He agrees but says that he has NEVER
> seen various things that I show him in any other tech manuals by other
> companies in this industry.
> So what is the official rule for the use of hyphenated modifiers. Like I
> said, this is VERY minor but good writing is supposed to be correct in
> punctuation as well as word usage, etc. And this isn't even a tech writing
> rule, but a punctuation rule that should apply everywhere.
>
> So if anyone has a website (ESPECIALLY a heavy construction equipment
> website) that shows correct usage, or a website that states the correct
> punctuation rules, I'd be much obliged. Hopefully, I'll be able to
> reference it for future "things."
>
> -- Ken in Atlanta
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