TechWhirl (TECHWR-L) is a resource for technical writing and technical communications professionals of all experience levels and in all industries to share their experiences and acquire information.
For two decades, technical communicators have turned to TechWhirl to ask and answer questions about the always-changing world of technical communications, such as tools, skills, career paths, methodologies, and emerging industries. The TechWhirl Archives and magazine, created for, by and about technical writers, offer a wealth of knowledge to everyone with an interest in any aspect of technical communications.
>I'm writing a tutorial and was wondering about the difference between
>choosing and selecting. A co-worker inferred that there is an official
>Microsoft definition of each. Any thoughts?
My thought is that we should be wary of any definitions Microsoft comes up
with. Unless you're specifically trying to teach MS lingo, stick with English.
The Random House Dictionary uses the two words to define each other; i.e.
"choose" in definition no. 1. is "to select....", and "select" in definition
no. 1 is "to choose..." But the dictionary does point out something that
holds up in general usage -- which is that we're more likely to use "choose"
in cases that involve decision, and "select" in cases that involve
discrimination. For example: "She may or may not choose to come"; but "He
selected the white shirt from among those hanging in his closet." Now
"choose" could be used for the second sentence as well as the first, but
"select" could not be used for both, because the action of selecting always
involves discriminating, picking one thing instead of another.
This leads me to use the word "select" when directing a new software user to
a menu item. As in: "Select File>save."
