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Mike Pope said:
>In the US, "shall" is NOT USED. If you doubt this, try to
>find references in any current major US publication illustrating
>the use of "shall".
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Wow, that's a pretty strong statement, Mike. As noted
previously, "shall" is used a lot in some fields. These may
not be in "major US publications" but this IS the Tech Whirl
list. I don't think that there is much tech writing that
qualifies as "major publication"
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^Rich
Mike continues:
>say "corrupting", by the way; television reflects the way people
>actually speak. To say "corrupting" implies strongly that there is
>one correct way to speak English. Nope.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Again, Mike, we are discussing technical writing here. Do
you recommend the use of slang and colloquialisms that have
different meanings in different regions? Maybe I'll write my
next manual in iambic rapameter :)
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^Rich
<rxs459 -at- fep1 -dot- rl -dot- gov>