TechWhirl (TECHWR-L) is a resource for technical writing and technical communications professionals of all experience levels and in all industries to share their experiences and acquire information.
For two decades, technical communicators have turned to TechWhirl to ask and answer questions about the always-changing world of technical communications, such as tools, skills, career paths, methodologies, and emerging industries. The TechWhirl Archives and magazine, created for, by and about technical writers, offer a wealth of knowledge to everyone with an interest in any aspect of technical communications.
Subject:Re: Grammar of verbs for nouns with "(s)" From:"Downing, David" <DavidDowning -at- users -dot- com> To:<techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com> Date:Tue, 23 Dec 2008 08:35:27 -0600
From: Geoff Hart <ghart -at- videotron -dot- ca>
Subject: Grammar of verbs for nouns with "(s)"?
[snip]
Ideally, the interface should be smart enough to choose the correct
noun-verb combination (singular for one deleted meeting or plural for
two or more) based on the user's actions, but that's never gonna
happen.
[snip]
------------------------------------
Another variation on this theme that I have encountered concerns
telephone-based interfaces for voice mailboxes. The best ones will have
a whole separate statement for the case of having only one message.
I.e., "One new message is in your mailbox," as opposed to "[Two, Three,
etc.] messages are in your mailbox." Less sophisticated systems don't
do this. I remember one that was constantly telling me "You have one new
messages" -- and after awhile, it started to sound right.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
ComponentOne Doc-To-Help 2009 is your all-in-one authoring and publishing
solution. Author in Doc-To-Help's XML-based editor, Microsoft Word or
HTML and publish to the Web, Help systems or printed manuals. http://www.doctohelp.com
Help & Manual 5: The complete help authoring tool for individual
authors and teams. Professional power, intuitive interface. Write
once, publish to 8 formats. Multi-user authoring and version control! http://www.helpandmanual.com/
---
You are currently subscribed to TECHWR-L as archive -at- web -dot- techwr-l -dot- com -dot-
