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Subject:Re: "Appears" or "displays" From:Scott McClare <smcclare -at- DY4 -dot- COM> Date:Wed, 18 Nov 1998 09:03:48 -0500
> -----Original Message----- [rearranged slightly]
> From: Nick Marino [SMTP:Rhetonic -at- gte -dot- net]
> Sent: Wednesday, November 18, 1998 12:36 AM
> To: TECHWR-L -at- LISTSERV -dot- OKSTATE -dot- EDU
> Cc: Scott McClare
> Subject: Re: "Appears" or "displays"
>
>> >Which is the correct, appears or displays? Is it a matter of
>> >preference or is one grammatically correct?
>> >1) The imported information appears in a table.
>> >2) The imported information displays in a table.
>>
>> Try, "The following table lists the imported information," or
whatever
>> variation thereof bets fits your context.
>
>But this doesn't work either because it breaks a cardinal rule of all
tech
>writing: brevity.
<shrug> Hence "or whatever variation thereof." Instead of "the
following table," write "this table" or "Table 1.1." Six words (or five
if you count cross-references as one), same as the original examples.
>Seven words vs. one two or three: Do the math.
Three words? "Here's a table"?
Take care,
Scott
--
Scott McClare - Technical Writer
DY 4 Systems Inc., Kanata, Ontario, Canada
(613) 599-9199 x502 smcclare -at- dy4 -dot- com
Opinions are my own
