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Subject:Re: The 'user' in User Manual From:"Susan W. Gallagher" <sgallagher5 -at- cox -dot- net> To:techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com Date:Mon, 5 Feb 2007 18:59:04 -0500
Delving into the grammar of it all, Jason is absolutely correct that deictic pronouns such as "I" and "you" do not require antecedents (did I slow down enough to type those words correctly this time?). However, the deictic pronouns like "this" and "that" and "those", while they do not necessarily require antecedents in informal speach, do require explicit antecedents in the technical writing that comes out of my department.
The difference is:
This enables you to ...
vs.
This setting enables you to ...
Getting back to whether or not a technical writer should know that -- yes, it's an obscure term, and no, most people - even professional writers -- are not that familiar with the term. So, are you curious enough -- interested enough -- to learn about it, or do you just shrug your shoulders and think it's something you don't need to know so to heck with it.
And if your editor said, "you need to provide an antecedent here" or, "you could legitimately use a comma splice there," or, "begin each list item with an active verb" or, "this verb is transitive" can you go back to your 'puter and make the corrections without further clarification? Are you curious enough to learn? Or do you require your editor to be explicit about the required changes, down to the exact word you are to use?
If you are called upon to edit another writer's work (and my team peer-edits, so they do this all the time), can you defend your changes, or is your entire argument just, "it sounds better to me"? Even something as basic as subject-verb agreement isn't simple if you can't parse a sentence.
FWIW, I did not study grammar extensively in school, apart from what the nuns pounded into me in grade school. When I first started technical writing, I didn't know a comma splice from a hole in the ground, but I was curious enough to learn -- to look up references to obscure terms and to find the reasons behind what editors told me to do. I believe that my pursuit of this knowledge has made me a stronger writer, and because I know the reasons behind what sounds right, I'm better able to communicate with my writers about what's expected of them and to enforce consistency among our various publications.
I am also a firm believer in the old adage, "you need to know the rules before you can break them."
Is grammar the only thing I look for in an interview? Of couse not. But if you claim to be a writer and you come looking to me for a job, you'd better be able to speak intelligently about *all* of the tools of your trade, including grammar.
For those who wrote to say they value technical accumen more than grammatical skills, I see your point without conceding it. I've found that the most successful techie-turned-writers treat the rules of English the way they treat the rules of C++ -- they learn them and they adhere to them. As an API writer with more than 15 years of experience in that niche, I have worked with and employed several devs-turned-writer, most of whom became very good writers over time because they cared enough to learn about what they're doing.
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