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Subject:RE: Yahoo has no staff tech writers From:John Posada <JPosada -at- book -dot- com> To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Thu, 10 Oct 2002 16:46:43 -0400
>>However, s/he writes instructions that make the gods weep. Every single
step
>>is clear, unambiguous, and helpful.
>This assertion is inconsistent with the hypothesis that the grammar skills
are
>poor. If the instructions are clear and unambiguous, then they are likely
as
>grammatical as they need to be.
Ok, an example, off the top of my head. It may be kinda lame, but I have
something going on in the background that I need to monitor.
If you show 10 editors something written in passive voice, 8 of them will
ding you for it, and the other two will think about doing that.
Let's say that writer I referred to does everything in passive, or maybe he
mixes second and third person. Maybe he stinks at parallel
structure...whatever
Maybe the run-of-the-mill writer couldn't pull it off and the steps would be
muddled. OTOH, couldn't the detail, reasoning, and helpfulness (talk about
grammar :-)) of the steps be clear and yet the grammar be substandard?
John Posada
Senior Technical Writer
Barnes&Noble.com
jposada -at- book -dot- com
212-414-6656
"Be accurate...the 4am wakeup call you prevent could be your manager's"
-----Original Message-----
From: Dick Margulis [mailto:margulis -at- mail -dot- fiam -dot- net]
Sent: Thursday, October 10, 2002 4:31 PM
To: TECHWR-L; John Posada
Subject: RE: Yahoo has no staff tech writers
John Posada <JPosada -at- book -dot- com> wrote:
>
>You have a writer...his grammar skills are poor. Not so bad that it
>interferes with the reader's understanding, but obviously not up to par.
>
>However, s/he writes instructions that make the gods weep. Every single
step
>is clear, unambiguous, and helpful.
This assertion is inconsistent with the hypothesis that the grammer skills
are poor. If the instructions are clear and unambiguous, then they are
likely as grammatical as they need to be.
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