grammar term

["Mark L. Levinson" <mark -at- MEMCO -dot- CO -dot- IL>]

Yes, often the demonstrative pronoun ("this") is counterproductively
vague.  When you use "this" to mean "the concept at hand", you may
know that you're referring to the last three sentences but the
reader may not know whether you're referring to the last one,
three, or seven sentences.  Or to the last word in the last sentence.
Or to the next sentence.  Your writing becomes not just hard to
understand, but easy to misunderstand.

Another irritation is the reuse of the demonstrative adjective:
"This section of this chapter describes this command in detail."
The word "this" is like the woman in the sequinned gown who draws
your attention to the new Kelvinator on TV.  Okay, so I haven't
seen TV in a while.  But the point is that she's best left standing
in all her glamor next to one important item; you can't send her
scurrying from place to place within a single sentence.

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 Mark L. Levinson - Memco Ltd. - Wallenberg 24 - 69719 Tel Aviv - Israel
 tel. 03-6450049 (home 09-9552411 or 09-9555720, shoe phone 051-377181)
 fax 03-6450001, e-mail mark -at- memco -dot- co -dot- il (home nosnivel -at- netvision -dot- net -dot- il)
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