Re: Question about "The Complete Idiot's Guide to Technical Writing"

[Tony Chung <tonyc -at- tonychung -dot- ca>]

On Tue, Jun 21, 2011 at 8:40 AM, McLauchlan, Kevin <
Kevin -dot- McLauchlan -at- safenet-inc -dot- com> wrote:

> Having already decided not to buy any of them, I
> still read "Complete Idiot's..." as a phrase
> modifying "Guide".
>

You're right Kevin. "Complete" modifies Idiot. "Complete Idiot's" modifies
Guide.



So... um... techwriter-ish question:
>
> How could it have been modified in order to ensure
> the desired clustering of modifiers in the mind of
> the average reader?  Any punctuation you can think
> of that might have worked with the same word-order
> to adjust the emPHAsis?  Any word order that would
> have done the job without hopelessly contorting
> the title?
>
>

The Complete Guide to {noteworthy subject} for the Everyday Idiot.

The Guide to {noteworthy subject} That Makes You LESS of an Idiot.

The {noteworthy subject} Guide to bash the Idiot out of All of Us.

heh heh.

-Tony
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