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On Mon, Feb 20, 2017 at 3:28 PM, Stuckey, Ginger <X2BVSHEW -at- southernco -dot- com>
wrote:
> Hi Ken,
>
> I wrote parts and service manuals for a garbage truck manufacturer in
> a state next door to you. We did it with the hyphen. If you want more
> examples.
>https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trailer_connectors_in_North_America
>https://www.etrailer.com/question-136174.html
>http://data.grammarbook.com/blog/numbers/hyphens-with-numbers/
>http://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/16/images/ch07_tab01.pdf
>http://writing-skills.com/how-to-write-numbers-part-2-when-to-use-hyph
> ens
>
>
> Ginger Stuckey
> Technical Writer
> CB&A Project Management Services, LLC
> Assigned to Southern Company Technical Publications
> 205-992-5651
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: techwr-l-bounces+x2bvshew=southernco -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com [mailto:
> techwr-l-bounces+x2bvshew=southernco -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com] On Behalf
> techwr-l-bounces+Of
> Ken Poshedly
> Sent: Monday, February 20, 2017 2:19 PM
> To: TECHWR-L Writing <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com>
> Subject: punctuation et al. rules
>
> Here's a quickie.
>
> I work for a manufacturer of a China-based, heavy construction equipment.
> Now that's, REAL hardware.
>
> Most of our source material is English-language stuff is right from
> the company's offices in mainland China, where their English-language
> skills are fair at best. The remainder of our source material is what
> we here write IF we are lucky enough to have the machine here on our
> premises for photos and inspection.
>
> My American manager is a nice guy (about age 60, and I'm seven years
> older) but he is not a true tech writer. He is an ex-Marine who had
> written the technical stuff for a heavy equipment dealer where he was
> employed for some years, and very proud of it. And he certainly knows
> his stuff from a technical side of things. Absolutely. Many times,
> he'll forward a Word document for me to format (we use FrameMaker
> 11.0) that he has written and I'll usually find little stuff to fix,
> but then he'll quibble with me about it. I usually give in because he's the boss.
>Â In today's document from him is the phrase "7 pin connector". My fix
> was to simply add a hyphen to make it "7-pin connector". But he
> objected and I VERY diplomatically told him that in our industry, it
> is common to take mechanics and other factory workers with oodles of
> line experience and throw them in front of a keyboard to write the
> manuals, thus the rough grammar, etc. And blindly copying what
> somebody else wrote means replicating their errors (if any). He agrees
> but says that he has NEVER seen various things that I show him in any
> other tech manuals by other companies in this industry.
> So what is the official rule for the use of hyphenated modifiers. Like
> I said, this is VERY minor but good writing is supposed to be correct
> in punctuation as well as word usage, etc. And this isn't even a tech
> writing rule, but a punctuation rule that should apply everywhere.
>
> So if anyone has a website (ESPECIALLY a heavy construction equipment
> website) that shows correct usage, or a website that states the
> correct punctuation rules, I'd be much obliged. Hopefully, I'll be
> able to reference it for future "things."
>
> -- Ken in Atlanta
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