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Subject:Re: use of he/she/they From:Ginna Watts <gwatts -at- PIM -dot- BC -dot- CA> Date:Tue, 12 Aug 1997 17:01:01 -0700
At 02:41 PM 8/12/97 -0700, Cramer, Kim wrote:
>Sella wrote:
>>BTW, your sample sentence has so much going on that it is confusing
>>(there's an I, an us, and a he/she/them); also, your "boss" seems to be
>>a specific person, and so would presumably have a specific gender.
>
>And Tim Covil added:
>>Okay, I'll re-word. "I think you should go to the boss and see what they
>>think."
>
>How about: "I think you should go ask your manager's opinion."
>It avoids the need for specifying the gender (it's irrelevant anyway),
>addresses the reader directly, and also avoids a clumsy possesive for
>"boss."
>
There's the one I was waiting for! As for the "account representative",
frankly I would never write that. If I came across it while editing, I
would change to:
"For help, call your representative."
or: If you need help, call your account representative."
or finally: "RTFM. If you still can't grasp it, call a rude representative
for so-called help".
(Heh heh - I'm working tech support today, so I couldn't resist!)
Ginna
Ginna Watts - Technical Writer
Pacific International Mapping Corp.
250-727-0727
gwatts -at- pim -dot- bc -dot- ca
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