Now entering the 4th dimension?

[Geoff Hart <ghart -at- videotron -dot- ca>]

Chris Morton wondered: <<We're following the *Chicago Manual of Style  
*in writing to the medical community.>>

Isn't that kind of like following the American Psychological  
Association style guide for accountants? <g>

Just kidding -- mostly. So long as you maintain some sensitivity to  
the vocabulary and needs of your audience, pretty much any style guide  
will cover the basics. Where a general guide such as Chicago will fail  
for your audience is that it doesn't cover any of the specialized  
situations a medical writer working for a medical audience will face.  
If you haven't already done so, you need to come up with your own  
(gradually growing and evolving) house style guide to cover the many  
things that Chicago doesn't. For example:

<<That said, the marketing folks like "3D" (thinking it's more  
"progressive"), whereas all of our engineering docs, SOPs, etc., use  
"3-D". We also reference 2-D and 4-D. My own take is that while 3D may  
be readily comprehended, a reader may stumble—if even for a moment—on  
2D and 4D.>>

The only purpose for the hyphen is to indicate a compound adjective  
(e.g., "a three-dimensional image"). But once you replace a hyphenated  
phrase with an abbreviation, the need for the hyphen essentially  
disappears: a single word clearly functions as a unit modifier, and  
unit modifiers don't require a hyphen. <g> Retaining the hyphen isn't  
wrong, particularly in the early phases of an abbreviation's adoption  
(when the hyphen may help readers recall the full expanded phrase);  
it's just redundant. Nowadays, I can't imagine anyone stumbling over 3D.

The more important points. First, clarity trumps all other  
considerations. If readers clearly understand the context, and the  
meaning of "D" is clear in that context, which solution you choose  
probably isn't crucial (so long as you choose... see the next point).  
If you follow standard practice of defining key acronyms and  
abbreviations the first time they appear, then the meaning of 3D and 3- 
D will be equally clear. Readers won't encounter much difficulty with  
the meaning. I have a preference for the unhyphenated form, both  
because it's equally clear and because you'll never have the problem  
of your helpful software splitting the word over two lines. <g>

Second, consistency is important because every inconsistency, no  
matter how small, slightly increases the burden on the reader until  
they figure out the cause of the inconsistency and whether or not it  
changes the meaning. If the rest of the subject matter is sufficiently  
complex to require full attention, all the small additional burdens  
that arise from repeated inconsistency may eventually add up to the  
straw that breaks the camel's back -- or at least the straw that gives  
the camel a backache. It really doesn't matter which of the two  
abbreviations you choose (with or without the hyphen), so long as you  
use it consistently. If the vast majority of your docs use the hyphen,  
then continue using the hyphen and tell your marketing folks to pay  
attention to marketing.

--------------------------------------------------------
Geoff Hart (www.geoff-hart.com)
ghart -at- videotron -dot- ca / geoffhart -at- mac -dot- com
--------------------------------------------------------
***Now available***  _Effective onscreen editing_
(http://www.geoff-hart.com/books/eoe/onscreen-book.htm)

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