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Nuance. If the story anticipates a change of behavior, then "have been using" may well be a better choice of words.
Concision is only one of the tools for achieving clarity. A shorter alternative is not necessarily better (although much of the time it is).
tims
-----Original Message-----
From: techwr-l-bounces+timothy -dot- slager=dematic -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com [mailto:techwr-l-bounces+timothy -dot- slager=dematic -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com] On Behalf Of Debbie Hemstreet
Sent: Thursday, September 27, 2012 4:21 AM
To: techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
Subject: Reporter style writing versus technical writing -- GRAMMATICAL QUESTION
Hi all,
OK, let's try this another way;
Beyond the issue of kids is this.
In a world where people want a minimum of words, why on earth would anyone use
Past Perfect Simple Tense: The families have been using...
Instead of
Past Simple Tense: The families used...
Throughout an entire article.
To me this adds useless verbage. But the person writing this is an experienced "reporter" and I don't want to argue unless there is a reason. I just know I lose patience with so much verbage, even in the newspaper... what about others?
Deborah
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