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.
RE: Re: Can we start a sentence with "or" or "and" in a manual
Subject:RE: Re: Can we start a sentence with "or" or "and" in a manual From:"Pinkham, Jim" <Jim -dot- Pinkham -at- voith -dot- com> To:"Michelle Despres" <michelle -dot- despres -at- gmail -dot- com>, "Nancy Allison" <maker -at- verizon -dot- net> Date:Thu, 12 Nov 2009 13:41:23 -0600
Excellent cite, Michelle. Thanks for this. I suspect it validates what
more of us than cared to confess it actually practice :)
-----Original Message-----
From: techwr-l-bounces+jim -dot- pinkham=voith -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
[mailto:techwr-l-bounces+jim -dot- pinkham=voith -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com] On
Behalf Of Michelle Despres
Sent: Thursday, November 12, 2009 11:40 AM
To: Nancy Allison
Cc: techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
Subject: Re: Re: Can we start a sentence with "or" or "and" in a manual
>From CMOS:
There is a widespread belief-one with no historical or grammatical
foundation-that it is an error to begin a sentence with a conjunction
such as *and*, *but*, or *so*. In fact, a substantial percentage (often
as many as 10 percent) of the sentences in first-rate writing begin with
conjunctions. It has been so for centuries, and even the most
conservative grammarians have followed this practice. Charles Allen
Lloyd's 1938 words fairly sum up the situation as it stands even today:
"Next to the groundless notion that it is incorrect to end an English
sentence with a preposition, perhaps the most wide-spread of the many
false beliefs about the use of our language is the equally groundless
notion that it is incorrect to begin one with 'but' or 'and.' As in the
case of the superstition about the prepositional ending, no textbook
supports it, but apparently about half of our teachers of English go out
of their way to handicap their pupils by inculcating it. One cannot help
wondering whether those who teach such a monstrous doctrine ever read
any English themselves." Still, *but* as an adversative conjunction can
occasionally be unclear at the beginning of a sentence. Evaluate the
contrasting force of the *but* in question and see whether the needed
word is really *and*; if *and* can be substituted, then *
but* is almost certainly the wrong word. Consider this example: *He went
to school this morning. But he left his lunchbox on the kitchen table*.
Between those sentences is an elliptical idea, since the two actions are
in no way contradictory. What is implied is something like this: *He
went to school, intending to have lunch there, but he left his lunch
behind*. Because *and*would have made sense in the passage as originally
stated,
*but* is not the right word. To sum up, then, *but* is a perfectly
proper way to open a sentence, but only if the idea it introduces truly
contrasts with what precedes. For that matter, *but* is often an
effective way of introducing a paragraph that develops an idea contrary
to the one preceding it.
On Thu, Nov 12, 2009 at 6:59 AM, Nancy Allison <maker -at- verizon -dot- net>
wrote:
> Or [heh, heh] how about starting a sentence ANYWHERE in ANY DOCUMENT
> with "Fact is" -- the catchy phrase beloved of knucklehead editors
everywhere.
>
> Fact is, I HATE it.
>
> Sorry, didn't mean to hijack the thread, but it's almost Friday . . .
>
> --Nancy
>
> ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>
> Are you looking for one documentation tool that does it all? Author,
> build, test, and publish your Help files with just one easy-to-use
tool.
> Try the latest Doc-To-Help 2009 v3 risk-free for 30-days at:
>http://www.doctohelp.com/
>
> Help and Manual 5: The all-in-one help authoring tool. Full support
> for team authoring with multi-user editing - both directly and in
> combination with VSS-compatible source control systems.
>http://www.helpandmanual.com/
>
> ---
> You are currently subscribed to TECHWR-L as
michelle -dot- despres -at- gmail -dot- com -dot-
>
> To unsubscribe send a blank email to
> techwr-l-unsubscribe -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
> or visit
>http://lists.techwr-l.com/mailman/options/techwr-l/michelle.despres%40
> gmail.com
>
>
> To subscribe, send a blank email to techwr-l-join -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
>
> Send administrative questions to admin -at- techwr-l -dot- com -dot- Visit
>http://www.techwr-l.com/ for more resources and info.
>
> Please move off-topic discussions to the Chat list, at:
>http://lists.techwr-l.com/mailman/listinfo/techwr-l-chat
>
>
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Are you looking for one documentation tool that does it all? Author,
build, test, and publish your Help files with just one easy-to-use tool.
Try the latest Doc-To-Help 2009 v3 risk-free for 30-days at: http://www.doctohelp.com/
Help and Manual 5: The all-in-one help authoring tool. Full support for
team authoring with multi-user editing - both directly and in
combination with VSS-compatible source control systems. http://www.helpandmanual.com/
---
You are currently subscribed to TECHWR-L as Jim -dot- Pinkham -at- voith -dot- com -dot-
Are you looking for one documentation tool that does it all? Author,
build, test, and publish your Help files with just one easy-to-use tool.
Try the latest Doc-To-Help 2009 v3 risk-free for 30-days at: http://www.doctohelp.com/
Help and Manual 5: The all-in-one help authoring tool. Full support for
team authoring with multi-user editing - both directly and in combination
with VSS-compatible source control systems. http://www.helpandmanual.com/
---
You are currently subscribed to TECHWR-L as archive -at- web -dot- techwr-l -dot- com -dot-
