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: Need a little help in wording From:Stuart Burnfield <slb -at- westnet -dot- com -dot- au> To:Techwr-l <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com> Date:Wed, 28 Dec 2011 16:36:10 +0800 (WST)
> The most diversified adaptation that plants have are their leaves
> which can do amazing things such as capture water, change colors,
> and act as the fingerprint of the plant.
In the first sentence, 'diverse' is probably a better choice as we're simply listing a few things that are different. 'Diversified' might be preferable if you wanted to emphasize whatever it is that caused or explains the differences.
A bigger problem, though, is that it's not very clear just what the sentence is trying to say.
a. 'Plants have several adaptations and the most diverse adaptation is their leaves.'
b. 'Leaves can do amazing things such as capture water, change colors, and act as the fingerprint of the plant.'
c. 'Leaves are diverse adaptations in that they have several functions (capturing water, changing color, and identifying or "fingerprinting" the plant.'
d. 'Capturing water, changing color, and "fingerprinting" are three adaptations of leaves.'
Depending on which of these you want to say, you might want to tighten up the wording. For example, fingerprinting a plant by looking at the leaves is an amazing thing that botanists do, not something that plants or leaves 'do'. If you're referring to the changing colour of leaves in Autumn/Fall, I don't think this is an adaptation as much as it's a by-product of a different adaptation: the ability of trees in cold climates to shed leaves before they become a liability. To use the wording in your final example, capturing water is an adaptation, while changing colour and a unique pattern of veins or 'fingerprint' are physical characteristics.
> Finally, the most diversified physical characteristics of many
> animals are their feathers,
Again, I'm not sure what is meant by 'diversified 'in this sentence.
'For many types of animal, feathers are their most diverse characteristic.'
'There are many different forms into which feathers have been adapted.'
'Many animals have a diversity of feathers (that is, many different types of feather on different parts of the body).'
I guess this would become clear in the next sequence, depending on what the video shows: penguins vs. hoopoes, chicks vs. chickens, moas vs. albatrosses, hummingbirds vs. condors, tail feathers vs. throat feathers.
> Just like plants, animals have specialized adaptations to help
> them survive the ever-changing challenges of nature. Some examples
> of adaptations that animals have are - herbivorous animals like
> horses or cows have flat teeth to help them grind up grasses;
'Just like plants, animals have specialized adaptations to help
them survive the ever-changing challenges of nature. For example,
herbivores such as horses and cows have flat teeth to help them
grind up grasses'
Stuart
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
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-
