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.
Subject:Re: the in captions? From:Tracy Boyington <tracy_boyington -at- OKVOTECH -dot- ORG> Date:Tue, 14 Jul 1998 08:24:48 -0500
> "The File dialog box" implies that there is just one, and this is it. "File
> dialog box" does not make that implication. Without the "the," this is just
> one of a class of objects called "File dialog box." There may only be one
> instance of the class, but we are still talking about a potentially larger
> group.
In that case, if you were referring to one of many file dialog boxes,
would your caption be "File dialog box" or "A file dialog box"?