"shorthand" vs. plain writing style

[Andrew Warren]

Yves Barbion wrote:

> I'm doing some research on car repair manuals. A typical writing style
> here seems to be some sort of "shorthand" English, in which articles
> and pronouns are omitted. For example:  
> 
> - "Remove fuel tank cover."
> - "Drain fuel tank and clean fuel filler neck and surrounding area."
> - "Unscrew securing bolt and remove tank flap unit with rubber cup."
> - "Remove securing bolts on filler neck."
> - "Ensure fuel hoses are tight."
> 
> Any thoughts/opinions about this writing style? Pros and cons? Where
> does this writing style come from? Effect on the readability and
> translatability of the text?

Yves:

Removal of articles and prepositions is a false economy; instructions
written this way take longer to read and parse than instructions written
in real English.

For people whose first language isn't English, this style can be
exceedingly hard to understand, mostly because the lack of articles and
prepositions makes it difficult to determine parts of speech:

    "Remove fuel tank cover": Does that mean "remove the fuel tank and
    cover it"?  Remove the fuel, the tank, AND the cover?

    "Drain fuel tank and clean fuel filler neck and surrounding area":
    Am I to drain the fuel tank, the clean fuel filler neck, AND the
    surrounding area?

    "Unscrew securing bolt": Unscrew it WHILE securing it?  How?

    "Remove tank flap unit with rubber cup": Am I being instructed to
    use a rubber cup instead of a prybar?  Or to remove this unit but
    leave installed the unit that doesn't have a rubber cup?

This problem was identified decades ago by the aerospace industry; they
addressed it with "Simplified Technical English": a dictionary and set
of rules for writing aircraft maintenance manuals.  Info on the spec
(which is available for a fee) is here:

    http://www.simplifiedenglish-aecma.org/

and there's an out-of-date, unofficial version of the spec here:

    http://www.userlab.com/Downloads/SE.pdf

-Andrew

=== Andrew Warren  - awarren at synaptics.com
=== Synaptics, Inc - Santa Clara, CA