Re: there is vs. there's

["Zen C" <zenizenc -at- gmail -dot- com>]

Thank you all for your feedback.

As mentioned earlier the SOP document I am reviewing is for a specific
department within the company on how to manage tasks. We are a business unit
(acquired company) of a larger organization.

The SOP doc I am reviewing has an overview of the parent company, other
partners the company works with, our company etc..Does an SOP for a specific
department need to have all that information?

My thought is that the employee is provided with other manuals to read about
the company and why does one have to repeat it in a SOP that is for a
specific department. I would only write about the Department and the tasks.

Any thoughts on this issue?



On Thu, Apr 17, 2008 at 2:47 AM, Michael West <WestM -at- conwag -dot- com> wrote:

>
> Zen asks:
>
> >>Is there a rule about using "there is/there's" in Technical Writing? or
> is
> it a standard followed based on preference.
>
> There are probably as many 'rules' about the use of contractions as there
> are style guides, so your question, Zen,  strikes me as ill-phrased.
>
> If you have no style guide, my advice is to base your decision not on
> "preference" but on consideration for your readers. Many readers--especially
> ESL readers--stumble over contractions. Writing clearly and unambiguously is
> more important in technical writing than in some other types. I consider
> clarity more important (by far) in instructional writing than a
> "conversational" tone.
>
> Some contractions are riskier than others.  For example, writing "Don't"
> is more likely to lead to errors than writing  "Do not".
>
> "There's" seems fairly innocuous by comparison, but still introduces an
> opportunity for misunderstanding.
>
>
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