Re: Teaching others how to fish

[Writers Book Mall <steve -at- writersbookmall -dot- com>]

Here's one I recall: a lot of my programmers, who were
not native English speakers, would ask me to make
updates to the error message table. This was the table
with all messages shown to users on screen and in
reports.

But what they would actually ask is for me to update
the *massage* table. So my tip was to explain the
difference. :)

I selected the tips based on actual problems that
seemed to recur, not general English usage from a
book. If you can tailor your tips, and your examples,
to your audience, that helps. People actually enjoyed
getting these, since they were bite-sized and
relevant.

--- Melissa Nelson <melmis36 -at- hotmail -dot- com> wrote:
> >"One way I've used in the past is to send out a
> short
> >tip every week based on common mistakes. People
> will
> >read a quick tip, especially if you can make it
> >interesting and light in tone."
> 
> 
> I like this idea, what types of tips do you include?
> Do you have a sample 
> that you do not mind sharing?
> 
> Melissa

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