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Subject:Re: forbidden to apostrophize From:"Glanbrok, Slayer of Bluntskulls" <conehead -at- OVERTHE -dot- NET> Date:Tue, 16 Jul 1996 11:36:46 -0400
Michal Lastman wrote:
My editor wants me to remove every apostrophe from my manual. This means replacing not only all contractions (something I could deal with) but also recasting any sentence that uses an apostrophe to form the possessive.
This involves a lot of work and will most likely make many sentences longer and unnecessarily complex.
I'd like to be able to convince my boss that this change is unnecessary but the
editor has convinced her that technical writing standards forbid apostrophes. Is this true? I learned the exact opposite in the technical writing course I took. And I haven't pulled a manual off the shelf today that didn't contain both contractions and possessives formed with apostrophes. Any advice?
I once had a manager who forbid the use of the word "comprise" because she didn't know how to use it in a sentence. She didn't purport to be an "editor", though.
So thanks for the laugh.
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