TechWhirl (TECHWR-L) is a resource for technical writing and technical communications professionals of all experience levels and in all industries to share their experiences and acquire information.
For two decades, technical communicators have turned to TechWhirl to ask and answer questions about the always-changing world of technical communications, such as tools, skills, career paths, methodologies, and emerging industries. The TechWhirl Archives and magazine, created for, by and about technical writers, offer a wealth of knowledge to everyone with an interest in any aspect of technical communications.
Others have answered this question correctly, i.e., the way I would have ;-), so
that's not why I'm replying. Over the years I've relied on *Dictionary of
Problem Words and Expressions* by Harry Shaw for guidance on questions such as
this. The book consists mostly of pairs of words that are often confused,
although it also addresses individual words that are often misused or
misunderstood. There are other references like this available. I highly
recommend such books to all writers.
Kelly, I in no way mean this as criticism of you for posing the question to the
list. Everyone, I don't mean this to start a war about whether to post a
question like this to the list, or how much research one should do beforehand. I
am just sharing information about a resource I have found helpful. (Having a
printed resource also lets you demonstrate the correctness of your choice should
some pointy-haired boss say "well I just think 'a SI' sounds better.")
Jo
--
Jo Baer
Senior Technical Writer
TCF National Bank
Minneapolis, Minnesota
jbaer -at- mailbox1 -dot- tcfbank -dot- com
If you can remain calm, you
just don't have all the facts.
Kelly Williamson wrote:
> Hi group,
>
> I have a rather silly question that has, nonetheless, been bothering me. I
> had to write "SI" (as in Self-Insured) and I automatically wrote "an SI" and
> didn't think twice. An associate of mine was reading it and said shouldn't
> it be "a SI". (The same applies to "an MS".)
>
> So, which is correct?
>
> Thanks!
> Kelly
*** Deva(tm) Tools for Dreamweaver and Deva(tm) Search ***
Build Contents, Indexes, and Search for Web Sites and Help Systems
Available now at http://www.devahelp.com or info -at- devahelp -dot- com
TECH*COMM 2001 Conference, July 15-18 in Washington, DC
The Help Technology Conference, August 21-24 in Boston, MA
Details and online registration at http://www.SolutionsEvents.com
---
You are currently subscribed to techwr-l as: archive -at- raycomm -dot- com
To unsubscribe send a blank email to leave-techwr-l-obscured -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com
Send administrative questions to ejray -at- raycomm -dot- com -dot- Visit http://www.raycomm.com/techwhirl/ for more resources and info.
