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Subject:Re: Really caring about communication From:Michele Davis <michele -at- krautgrrl -dot- com> To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Wed, 31 Dec 2003 12:00:39 -0600
I've been watching with increasing curiosity this, um, shall I say, debate?
I want to point something out, but don't slam me, it's just the way
things really are. The importance of putting together a grammatically
correct sentence and making sure verb tenses, as well as all
misspellings are eradicated in writing is becoming harder to find.
I find typo's and grammatical issues in most every newspaper I read,
every novel, every nonfiction book, every piece of legal documentation
lengthier than 5 pages, emails, newsletters, etc. <this was not meant to
be an exhaustive list, just an example>
People have become sloppy and that's because the content is really more
important than all those other things. Those are perceived to be
important to us English majors, or those of us that publish technical
works with a conventional publisher (but even then there are so many
sets of eyes, the writer, the tech editor, the copy editor, the
developmental editor and back to the writer, that lots of of errors are
corrected.)
In 90% of my projects during the past 18 years I have been the sole
writer, no one checks my work. That means 1) I have to find someone to
double-check my work, and 2) I have had to develop a keen eye for error.
This means I have become a very fast and accurate editor. But if I 1)
hadn't been a consultant my entire career, and 2) didn't really care
about the material I was churning out, my editing skills wouldn't be
honed, but I'd probably still be able to find another full time job.
It boils down to this: content is tantamount to everything. That's why
journalism packs the punch in the first paragraph or two, the inverted
pyramid was created for everyone who doesn't have the patience for
detail. "Just gimme the facts, Jack!" Don't you believe manuals are read
that way? Heck, I'm a writer and I don't even READ manuals. I play
around with stuff and if I come to a stumbling block I only want the
facts on that specific problem and I could care less if there are
typo's, as long as I can still extrapolate what I need. Most stuff we
purchase in America today is made in China anyway so the directions are
useless, and Microsoft Word corrects our errors for us, why would we
need to worry about language rules?
Happy New Year!
Michele
--
Michele
I got out of Babylon, but there was no Zion. No Promised Land.
www.krautgrrl.com
Andrew Plato wrote:
That's how tech writer's view it. The rest of the world doesn't. The rest of
the world thinks grammar is a convention that is easily cleaned up as needed.
Something that is incidental. An afterthought. Once the content is correct,
getting the grammar and the styles cleaned up is easy. Very easy.
In your stool example, grammar and style are the paint and packaging of the
stool. The three legs are all content. The stool can still exist and function
without the paint and packaging. It might not be as effective or useful, but it
still works.
Its about priorities. Grammar and style should consume a tiny fraction of a
tech writer's effort and time. Subject matter accuracy should overwhelmingly
consume a writer's efforts.
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