Re: Personification of gadgets and thingamabobs

["Smith, Martin" <smithmr -at- ENCORP -dot- COM>]

Ok, I'm near the end of a long day and might as well take a stab at this
one.

When I encounter a sentence such as the one you provide, I generally
assume that I need to obtain additional information. For example:

The device incorporates N lamps, each of which blocks a specific phase.
You can customize the device's phase response by installing different
combinations of lamps. The ASP driver considers the phase powers blocked
by each lamp when calculating the pulse timing. Consequently, you must
configure the ASP driver by entering the phase power blocked by each
lamp. You only need to configure the ASP driver when you change lamps.
To enter the phase power of each lamp, do the following:
1. Yada, yada, yada...

------------------------------------------------------------
Martin R. Smith
Technical Writer / Audiophile
ENCORP: The Energy Automation Company, http://www.encorp.com


-----Original Message-----
From: Lauren Merritt [mailto:laurenm -at- ISE-TLX -dot- COM]
Sent: Tuesday, March 23, 1999 5:06 PM
To: TECHWR-L -at- LISTSERV -dot- OKSTATE -dot- EDU
Subject: Personification of gadgets and thingamabobs


Hey folks--

I'm working with one of those ponderous, highly technical documents that
=
make my brain hurt. Right now I'm stalled against the following =
sentence:

"To fire the triac pulse at the proper time, the ASP driver must know =
which phase powers each lamp block."

I know this is an ugly sentence when taken out of context this way, but
=
that's not what hurts right now. I'm really trying to avoid the =
personification of this ASP driver thingie, and just can't seem to get =
around it.

Does anyone have general suggestions on avoiding personification? How =
hard should I try?

I've searched the archives, but found little on personification.

Thanks--

Lauren Merritt

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