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Subject:Re: E-Primer From:"Arlen P. Walker" <arlen -dot- walker -at- JCI -dot- COM> Date:Mon, 9 May 1994 16:58:02 -0500
>> How do you say "The program manager window is now
>> displayed" without going into gory detail like "Windows
>> now displays the program manager." This isn't so bad
>> once, but I'm doing a step-wise manual for a Windows
>> application, and if every other sentence starts like
>> this, I think it would get tedious to read. Plus, I think
>> people just don't care what's causing something to
>> happen.
>The program manager window displays.
Those two sentences don't mean the same. The second is ambivalent, because
it's difficult to tell if "displays" is a noun or a verb. If it's a verb,
the natural follow-up is "Displays *what*?"
Question to the grammarians (I"m flying by the seat of my pants at the moment):
Is displays (v.) transitive or intransitive?
Have Fun,
Arlen
arlen -dot- walker -at- jci -dot- com
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