Re: on vs in

[Geoff Bradbury <bradg -at- INTEXT -dot- CPSG -dot- COM -dot- AU>]

At 13:54 08/07/96 +1000, you wrote:
>Hi all

>Please help me settle a friendly disagreement with my editor!

>If you're telling a user to select an option from a menu, should you use
>"on" or "in"?  Which of the following do you prefer, and why:

>If the Online Tutor screen is not already displayed, click Learner Questions
>on the Advance menu panel.

>If the Online Tutor screen is not already displayed, click Learner Questions
>in the Advance menu panel.
_______________________________________________
At 14:25 08/07/96 +1000, I wrote:

My vote goes to #1. Examples involving "menu" in everyday use: "What's ON
today's menu?", "We have an extra item that's not ON the menu." I'm simply
used to hearing (and using) the preposition "on" tied with "menu", rather
than "in".

A slightly more convoluted approach is to use the preposition "from". For
example,  "If the Online Tutor screen is not already displayed then, FROM
the Advance menu panel, click Learner Questions." Hmmm, #1 sounds easier on
my ears.

...cheers!
__________________________________________________
Geoff Bradbury - Senior Technical Writer for InTEXT Systems
"Makers of extraordinarily fine text storage, retrieval, routing & analysis
software."

Call me on bradg -at- intext -dot- cpsg -dot- com -dot- au

My writings reflect _my_ views.

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