RE: Yet one more - really need an explanation for this one

["Pinkham, Jim" <Jim -dot- Pinkham -at- voith -dot- com>]

Let me try to clarify. Your point is well-taken, John, when it comes to identifying the singular vs. plural number for the product name. But it's not a question of number and subject-verb agreement here. Rather it is the apparent use of "are," rather than "were" with the past participle to indicate completed action in the past tense. And the coupling with a second past participle confounds the matter further.

Getting back to the sentences at hand:

If the research is done, then the systems "were developed" or "have been developed" and that development is based upon 10 years of research.
If the research is still being done, I suppose one could say that the systems "are being" developed: "XX Systems are being developed, and that development is based upon more than 10 years of research."

But that is getting more verbose. It still doesn't read well, and we still need the big picture to know what this copy is really trying to accomplish and then to give it a decent rewrite so that it actually does accomplish that purpose. It's the starting over that's really needed here, if we're after something close to the second sentence. It just does not work as is.

Jim

 

-----Original Message-----
From: techwr-l-bounces+jim -dot- pinkham=voith -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com [mailto:techwr-l-bounces+jim -dot- pinkham=voith -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com] On Behalf Of John Posada
Sent: Thursday, May 21, 2009 8:59 AM
To: dvora -at- tech-challenged -dot- com
Cc: techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
Subject: Re: Yet one more - really need an explanation for this one

Is XY Systems the name of an entity? If so, you are right because XY Systems, even thought it ends with S, is a singular,

However, if XY Systems are multiples of XY, then the client is right because you are referring to plurals

On Wed, May 20, 2009 at 12:05 PM, Deborah Hemstreet <dvora -at- tech-challenged -dot- com> wrote:
>  Hi All,
>
> I have a sentence that reads:
>
> XX Systems were developed based on over 10 years of research ...
>
> The client wants:
>
> XX Systems *are *develo9ped based on over 10 years of research ...
>
> I am certain that "are" is incorrect here, but don't know how to 
> explain this. Can you help?
>
> Thanks
>
> Deborah


--
John Posada
Senior Technical Writer
NYMetro STC President

Looking for the next gig.
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