RE: Overuse of "It"

["Condo, Candis" <ccondo -at- c-cor -dot- com>]

I find some of these very annoying and even condescending. If it is
"clear," I'll let you know; if it is of "interest", I'll let you know
that too. The same goes for "important".

Candis L. Condo

-----Original Message-----
From: techwr-l-bounces+ccondo=c-cor -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
[mailto:techwr-l-bounces+ccondo=c-cor -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com] On Behalf
Of John Posada
Sent: Thursday, March 22, 2007 4:21 PM
To: ekarenski-techwrl -at- yahoo -dot- com; Combs, Richard;
techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
Subject: RE: Overuse of "It"

> It appears that....
>   It is encountered at...
>   It may be slightly older...
>   It is important to note that...
>   It is much thinner than...
>   It appears that there are...
>   It is postulated that....
>   It is clear in the comparison of....
>   It is also of interest to note...
>    
>   And that's just a couple of pages!
>    
> I know technical reports can by dry and boring, but this makes
> them worse, in my opinion.

I think, for each example, an important issue is what was the
sentence immediately preceding each of the instances.

For instance, you may have:

The XYZ Server is based on technology that is almost 7 years old. It
may be slightly older than the matching server at our remote backup
facility...

or

Our IT environment is composed of 27 servers. It appears that 25% of
the servers are being utilized at less than half of their capacity.

In cases such as these, it would be wordier if the word "it" wasn't
used.

"The XYZ Server is based on technology that is almost 7 years old.
The XYZ Server may be slightly older than the matching server at our
remote facility...



John Posada
Senior Technical Writer

"They say everyone needs goals. Mine is to live forever.
So far, so good."
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