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Subject:Re: to be versus ing From:Christi Carew <christi -at- sageinst -dot- COM> To:"Brierley, Sean" <Sean -at- quodata -dot- com>, TECHWR-L <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Wed, 29 Dec 1999 09:11:40 -0800
on 12/29/99 8:59 AM, Brierley, Sean at Sean -at- quodata -dot- com wrote:
> Okay guys, any preference and why:
>
> "Software tables may need to be manually updated."
>
> "Software tables that may need manual updating."
>
> Thanks for the thought.
I might go with
Software tables may need to be updated manually.
I don't like "manual updating"; it just sounds funny to me. (How's that for
a "why"?!)
I prefer "to be updated manually" rather than "to be manually updated".
Here's why... though it's hard to explain in printed text only.
This one: Software tables may need to be updated manually.
sounds like you can update the tables in many ways, but sometime it has to
be manually.
This one: Software tables may need to be manually updated.
sounds more like you can only update the tables manually.
It's extremely subtle though, and I think either would be fine.
=)
Christi Carew
Technical Writer
christi -at- sageinst -dot- com
p. 831-761-6565
f. 831-761-2452
Sage Instruments
240 Airport Blvd.
Freedom, CA 95019
www.sageinst.com
If you can't explain it to an 8-year-old, you don't understand it.
-Albert Einstein
