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: Generally, what do you think of generally? From:Roy Jacobsen <rjacobse -at- GreatPlains -dot- com> To:TECHWR-L <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Tue, 8 Feb 2000 09:34:54 -0600
Bzzzzt! Sorry, but that's incorrect. Who says adverbs and adjectives
invariably lead to generalization? Right there was an adjective that is
precise.
We shouldn't condemn entire classes of words to the dustbin because they can
be used to write unclear prose. And it is possible to write unclearly while
avoiding adjectives and adverbs. The root of unclear writing is not the
choice of words, but an unclear understanding by the writer, in my opinion.
Roy M. Jacobsen
Documentation Supervisor
Great Plains
1701 38th Street Southwest
Fargo, ND 58103
USA
"[The Y2K bug] was sorta like dodge ball. You hardly ever get hit by the
ball you see." -- Patricia Jacobsen (age 12)
Ackerson, Allan [mailto:aackerson -at- logicon -dot- com] wrote:
>Kill all adverbs in technical writing. By definition, technical writing is
>precise. If you can't express a concept without generalizations become a
>novelist. See Strunk & White's "The Elements of Style" for the best short
>treatment of clear writing.
