Re: Grammar Checkers?

["Wing, Michael J" <mjwing -at- INGR -dot- COM>]

>----------
>From:  Katherine D. Fisher[SMTP:kdfisher -at- IX -dot- NETCOM -dot- COM]
>Sent:  Wednesday, September 11, 1996 10:15 AM
>To:    Multiple recipients of list TECHWR-L
>Subject:       Re: Grammar Checkers?

>Let's put it this way: those who feel they need grammar checkers should
>not be technical writers.


There are still some who say that "anyone who feels that they need a
word processor instead of a typewriter should not be a Technical
Writer".  By the way, (this ought to light the flame) are you an Editor?
 Anyone else notice that Editors seem to be the greatest technophobes in
the profession?  From what I've observed in grammar checkers, your jobs
are safe.  Well, at least for the time being ;^).

Running a grammar checker as your only inspection of the document is not
advisable.  However, what's wrong with using a grammar checker for an
initial pass through the document?  It can often catch problems in which
our eyes deceive us.  For example, it's easy to miss a repeated word
>when it's the last word in one line and the first word in the next line.

>Many of the positions in this discussion seem to be "use the checkers
>exclusively" or "don't use them at all".  I see nothing wrong with a
>combination.  Having run a checker does not preclude the author from
>performing their own edit.

Mike Wing

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_/   Michael Wing
_/   Principal Technical Writer
_/   Infrastructure Technical Information Development
_/   Intergraph Corporation
_/   Huntsville, Alabama
_/   (205) 730-7250
_/   mjwing -at- ingr -dot- com
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