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Many writers of technical documents for "professional" types of equipment
seem to fear "talking down" to their reader. This is reflected in
comments I get from my students of technical writing. I think that there is
a difference between "writing to a seventh grader" and "writing at the
seventh grade level". The first "talks down" to the reader and the second
respects the reader's needs and wishes for a simple, clear and concise
technical text. But at best, that difference is a hazy distinction and I
think that common sense is still the best indicator to follow.
Ed Hull
Professional English
Vught, The Netherlands
ethull -at- worldaccess -dot- nl