RE: Rule about not using possessive?

[Jean Weber <jean -at- wrevenge -dot- com -dot- au>]

A practical reason for not using possessives is that so many people these 
days don't know how to use an apostrophe correctly. "Real" techwriters 
should (and usually do) use them correctly; but as we all know, a lot of 
techwriting is done by other people who don't get it right -- and don't 
have the benefit of an editor to fix their punctuation errors. I can easily 
see a company (or a style guide) that forbids possessives for this reason, 
even though the reason isn't stated; later the rule is remembered as a more 
general one ("not appropriate in techwriting").

Regards, Jean
Jean Hollis Weber
mailto:jean -at- wrevenge -dot- com -dot- au
The Technical Editors' Eyrie  http://www.wrevenge.com.au/

Elizabeth Estep [mailto:EEstep -at- mrisystem -dot- com] asked,
> I questioned a change my editor had made, and now she's
> questioning herself.
> She swears that at some point she learned that possessives
> are inappropriate
> in technical writing, but now she can neither remember the
> logic behind this "rule" nor find a source for it.
>
> So, has anyone else out there every been exposed to this rule
> and, if so, can you explain the reasoning? Thanks for your help.


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