Re: Transitive Verb Question

[Doug Parr <dougparr -at- INTEGRITYONLINE9 -dot- COM>]

Janice has it right. Read what she says.

 

Now consider this:

 

When a reader is reading a user guide and working with the application at the computer, what happens?

 

1. The user guide says "Press Enter. The dialog box appears."

 

2. The reader presses Enter.

 

3. The reader LOOKS AT THE MONITOR for the dialog box to appear.

 

4. The dialog box appears ON THE MONITOR.

 

Come on, guys, our readers aren't stupid. (O.K., most of them aren't.) They aren't looking out the window, or on the ceiling, or under the desk, or in the rabbit's hat for a dialog box to appear. Most readers have the sense to look for the results of their actions on the monitor. The monitor is a given. It's the source of everything displayed. The reader knows that. So do you.

 

You won't solve the problem by writing "The dialog box displays" or any other ungrammatical construction. Every intelligent reader will ask, "Displays what?" And the hypothetical dumb readers who will be mystified by "The dialog box appears," and look for it to appear in the refrigerator, will go to the same refrigerator to watch the dialog box display.

 

Doug Parr

The Write Place