Re: grammar term

["Murrell, Thomas" <TMurrell -at- ALLDATA -dot- NET>]

Mark's reply is one of the best I've seen, even better than my earlier one.
<g>

His reply also reminded me of a lesson I learned some time back.  The
simplest way to improve the readability of most writing and remove
ambiguities or other impediments to understanding was to LOSE THE PRONOUNS,
especially the third person pronouns.

I know this concept goes against the grain of conventional grammatical
wisdom as taught in many schools, but you can't have ambiguously referenced
pronouns in you substitute the appropriate noun in its place.  (The same
goes for abbreviations and acronyms.)

Of course, real life is full of trade-offs, but reducing pronoun, acronym,
and abbreviation use seems to do wonders for improving readability and
understanding in all writing.

Yes, I also prefer to address the reader with second person pronouns,
another "rule" of grammar that breaking seems to work for.

Tom Murrell
Senior Technical Writer, Alliance Data Systems, Inc.
CAD4A - (614)729-4364
Fax: (614)729-4499
mailto:tmurrell -at- alldata -dot- net

> ----------
> From:         Mark L. Levinson[SMTP:mark -at- MEMCO -dot- CO -dot- IL]
> Sent:         Wednesday, August 18, 1999 8:53 AM
> To:   TECHWR-L -at- LISTSERV -dot- OKSTATE -dot- EDU
> Subject:      grammar term
>
> Yes, often the demonstrative pronoun ("this") is counterproductively
> vague.  When you use "this" to mean "the concept at hand", you may
> know that you're referring to the last three sentences but the
> reader may not know whether you're referring to the last one,
> three, or seven sentences.  Or to the last word in the last sentence.
> Or to the next sentence.  Your writing becomes not just hard to
> understand, but easy to misunderstand.
>
> Another irritation is the reuse of the demonstrative adjective:
> "This section of this chapter describes this command in detail."
> The word "this" is like the woman in the sequinned gown who draws
> your attention to the new Kelvinator on TV.  Okay, so I haven't
> seen TV in a while.  But the point is that she's best left standing
> in all her glamor next to one important item; you can't send her
> scurrying from place to place within a single sentence.
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------
>  Mark L. Levinson - Memco Ltd. - Wallenberg 24 - 69719 Tel Aviv - Israel
>  tel. 03-6450049 (home 09-9552411 or 09-9555720, shoe phone 051-377181)
>  fax 03-6450001, e-mail mark -at- memco -dot- co -dot- il (home nosnivel -at- netvision -dot- net -dot- il)
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------
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