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: For V/s Of From:Ned Bedinger <doc -at- edwordsmith -dot- com> To:techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com Date:Wed, 12 Jan 2011 11:38:29 -0800
On 01/10/2011 09:59 PM, Michael Tong wrote:
> Hi,
>
> As a non-native English speaker I have always had trouble choosing between âofâ and âforâ, as in the case of following sentence:
If you are hoping for a cleaner answer to your question than Craig
provided, I'll just say that I don't think there's much to add. But as a
native speaker, I relish this opportunity to say ...
<RANT>
A plain line connecting a preposition and its object would tell as much
about the relationship between them as either of those two words can tell.
</RANT>
> a) You do not have the privilege to view details for this shipment.
> b) You do not have the privilege to view details of this shipment.
'Details of' is easier to say, phonologically speaking, so I s'pose it
might have a regional following where the days are hot enough to wilt
the crisper (details for) expression. But anyway, I detect no
contrasting meaning between them--the syntax is right either way.
<SNIP>
> Also, I would appreciate if you could point me to good websites and books on English grammar.
If you want remedial practice with prepositions in their arbitrary,
quirky, or idiomatic usage, the web seems to have lots of ESL-oriented
Preposition Games. I haven't tried any of them, but I see them returned
by search engine queries.
The Wikipedia "Preposition" entry provides a linguist's perspective. You
might enjoy the many decoded examples of preposition (adposition) usage.
See the Properties, Semantic Classification, and Word Choice sections,
they carry most of the baggage you'd ever need for further adventures in
English preps and a comfortably-informed extended stay among native
speakers.
Of course, YMMV. Good luck, hope this helps.
Ned Bedinger
doc -at- edwordsmith -dot- com
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Create and publish documentation through multiple channels with Doc-To-Help.
Choose your authoring formats and get any output you may need. Try
Doc-To-Help, now with MS SharePoint integration, free for 30-days. http://www.doctohelp.com
---
You are currently subscribed to TECHWR-L as archive -at- web -dot- techwr-l -dot- com -dot-
