"Trigger" confusing in context

Subject: "Trigger" confusing in context
From: Arthur Comings <atc -at- CORTE-MADERA -dot- GEOQUEST -dot- SLB -dot- COM>
Date: Tue, 3 Jan 1995 15:34:09 PST

>We had a sentence that told the user:
>"The toolbar buttons trigger commands that are also found
>on menus."


People have suggested some succinct rewrites, but I'd like to
point out that (IMHO) whether or not "trigger" is too technical, we
see it at least as often as a noun as a verb, so the string "toolbar
buttons trigger" will make a lot of people pause to decode the apparent
three nouns in a row correctly. And, of course, the word is followed by
another noun, making a pretty dense mass.

I guess this is because when I'm reading fast (which is most of the
time) I just catch on to a noun toward the beginning of the sentence,
and then scan for the operational verb; under such conditions, this
construction would throw me off.





Arthur Comings

GeoQuest
Corte Madera, California
atc -at- corte-madera -dot- geoquest -dot- slb -dot- com


Previous by Author: If any of you have attended either of the following seminars
Next by Author: Alternatives to "user"
Previous by Thread: Graduate Schools
Next by Thread: cmsg cancel <3ech70$t93 -at- tadpole -dot- fc -dot- hp -dot- com>


What this post helpful? Share it with friends and colleagues:


Sponsored Ads