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Re: Overuse of gerunds in headings

Subject: Re: Overuse of gerunds in headings
From: Janice Gelb <janice -dot- gelb -at- sun -dot- com>
To: techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
Date: Thu, 06 Apr 2006 07:58:54 +1000

Hickling, Lisa (TOR) wrote:

Janice Gelb wrote:

Our primary heads are gerunds, and heads for tasks begin with
either "To" or "How to."

It's interesting to see other approaches in framing headings. I have
never quite liked *how to* in any heading major or minor. There is a
certain amount of dissonance that comes from wading through a couple of
nothing words to get to the verb that describes the meat of the
procedure. So, I favour gerunds for procedural headings. Regarding
localization of gerunds, it is a function of the translator's skill to
know whether the target language's equivalent or preferred treatment is
a gerund, infinitive, etc.


I agree about the "nothing" words in that I have
been fighting a battle (and unfortunately losing)
with the team that insists on "How to" rather than
"To." However, we like distinguishing conceptual
information from procedures by using gerunds for
conceptual stuff and an infinitive for task
information. We feel the infinitive indicates
that the section will provide instructions about
how to accomplish the task as opposed to more
global information.

-- Janice
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References:
Overuse of gerunds in headings: From: Hickling, Lisa (TOR)

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