Final post (from me anyways) on "increments"

[Connie Winch <CEW -at- MACOLA -dot- USA -dot- COM>]

At the request/suggestion of a couple of responders to my original post
(which I include at the bottom for those who didn't see it), I hereby post
the results of my question about the use of "increments" as a verb.  I
received 31 responses.  Two were from the same person, and I must have lost
a couple while looking back through them, because the following totals 28:


More or less "Leave it" - 10 (Most in this category reiterated what I
actually already knew - it's used that way in the computing/programming
realm.)

Specifically stated preference for "increments" but suggested another way I
could do it - 4

Depends on your audience - 2

Suggested a different way to do it - 12 (Most did not express preference
one way or the other.)


My final decision is to change it to this:  "After each entry, [the
software package] increases the Transaction ID No. by 1."  In other words,
I am squarely with the "Depends on your audience" people.  I'm writing
about computer software but it's for people whom I cannot assume are quite
computer literate.  They use computer software to do accounting; they don't
do accounting so they can use computers.


MY ORIGINAL POST:
I'm editing one of our manuals and have come across "increment" used as a
verb.  According to my American Heritage Dictionary, it's not a verb.
However, I'm having a hard time thinking of a replacement.  Any
suggestions?  It would be used in a sentence like this:  "The software
package automatically increments the transaction ID number after each
entry."

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|Connie E. Winch      | Don't be so open-minded  |
|Technical Writer     | your brains fall out.    |
|Macola Software      |                          |
|cew -at- macola -dot- usa -dot- com   |               -Unknown   |
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