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Subject:Re: Perform vs. do From:Shawn C <shawn -at- cohodata -dot- com> Date:Fri, 11 Oct 2013 15:34:19 -0700
We 'do' exactly the same as Dan's recommendation. It is succinct, which not
only lends itself well for localization but also easier to understand for
most people.
Both 'perform' and 'do' are unnecessary and may lead to confusion,
especially during translation.
On Fri, Oct 11, 2013 at 6:17 AM, Dan Goldstein <DGoldstein -at- cytomedix -dot- com>wrote:
> Actually, you don't need either. It's enough to write:
>
> To set the language:
> 1. Click Set Language.
> 2. Select the desired language from the drop-down list.
> 3. Click OK.
>
> This format works well in translation.
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Barbara Philbrick
> Sent: Friday, October 11, 2013 9:08 AM
> To: techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
> Subject: Perform vs. do
>
> Our writing group is trying to decide if we should start using "do"
> instead of "perform" for lead-in statements to procedures.
>
> For example:
> "To set the language, do the following steps:"
>
> compared to:
> "To set the language, perform the following steps:"
>
> Using "do" sounds odd to our ears, but plain language guidelines recommend
> it and we can't find any grammatical reason why it's wrong.
>
> Another consideration is that our audience is heavily English as second
> language readers (especially Asian languages).
>
> Have any of you found substantive reasons to use one or the other?
>
> Thanks!
>
> Barb
>
>
>
> --
Shawn Connelly
technical writer
<http://www.cohodata.com/> <shawn -at- cohodata -dot- com>
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