APPENDIX D: COMMON GRAMMAR, USAGE, & SPELLING PROBLEMS--continued
Problem: The report discusses how telescopes work, what types are available, mounts, accessories, and techniques for beginning star gazers. (The "how" and the "why" clauses are not parallel to the "mounts," "accessories," and "techniques" phrases.) Revision: The report discusses how telescopes work, what types of telescopes, mounts, and accessories are available, and how to begin your hobby as a star gazer. Problem: Customers often call the showroom to inquire about pricing, what items are available, and to place orders. (The "what items are available" clause does not go with the two phrases beginning with "to.") Revision: Customers often call the showroom to inquire about prices, check on the availability of certain items, and place orders. Problem: While the dialysis solution remains in the peritoneal cavity, the dialysis is achieved, a process that includes the removal of nitrogenous wastes and correcting electrolyte imbalances and fluid overloads. (The "removal" phrase and the "correcting" phrase are not parallel to each other.) Revision: While the dialysis solution remains in the peritoneal cavity, the dialysis is achieved, a process that includes the removal of nitrogenous wastes and the correction of electrolyte imbalances and fluid overloads. Problem: This report is intended for people with some electronics background but have little or no knowledge of geophysical prospecting.(The "with" phrase is not parallel with the "have little" clause--this one is not even grammatical.) Revision: This report is intended for people with some electronics background but with little or no knowledge of geophysical prospecting.
Problem: Lasers have also been used to study the reaction by which nitric oxide and ozone make nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and molecular oxygen. It plays an important role in the chemistry of the ozone layer that surrounds the earth and protects us from the sun's harmful ultraviolet radiation. ("It" what?) Revision: Lasers have also been used to study the reaction by which nitric oxide and ozone make nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and molecular oxygen. This process plays an important role in the chemistry of the ozone layer that surrounds the earth and protects us from the sun's harmful ultraviolet radiation. (Okay, now we see...)The second kind of pronoun-reference problem arises over lack of agreement between the pronoun and what it refers to. Here is one common example:
Problem: Motorola has just announced their new PowerPC chip. Revision: Motorola has just announced its new PowerPC chip.The problem here is that "Motorola" is a singular thing, while "their" is a plural thing--they don't agree in number! Now, maybe any dummy knows what's being said here, but this is imprecise writing, and it can lead to serious problems, given the right situation. Here is a second example:
Problem: These days, every student needs to own their own computer. Revision 1: These days, students need to own their own computers. Revision 2: These days, every student needs to own his or her own computer. (How politically correct...) Revision 3: These days, every student needs to own a computer.The problem in this example is that "student" does not agree with "their": one is singular; the other, plural. Some self-proclaimed authorities have tried to call this usage acceptable. However, it is imprecise--and we care greatly about precision in technical writing. Maybe not in this example, but in other situations, we might look elsewhere in the context for the plural noun we think is being referred to by "their." As you can see from the revisions, there sometimes is no good way to fix the problem. (Things like "h/she" have pretty much been booed off the stage.) Whenever it works, try converting the singular noun to a plural--the plural pronoun will then be okay (but don't forget to change the verb to plural).
Here are some additional examples (the reference word is underlined and the pronouns are italicized):
Problem: NASA hoped that, by using production tooling rather than by making each tool individually, they could save time and money. Revision: NASA hoped that, by using production tooling rather than by making each tool individually, it could save time and money.
Problem: If an energy efficient system can be developed, electrical vehicles could become as popular as its conventional counterpart. Revision: If an energy-efficient system can be developed, electrical vehicles could become as popular as their conventional counterpart.
Problem: Currently, Houston has $328.2 million in their 1984-1985 budget to help fund a new form of mass transportation. Revision: Currently, Houston has $328.2 million in its 1984-1985 budget to help fund a new form of mass transportation. Problem: Aerobic fitness programs help to improve an employee's physical condition by strengthening their circulatory, muscular, and respiratory systems. Revision: Aerobic fitness programs help to improve an employee's physical condition by strengthening his circulatory, muscular, and respiratory systems. Problem: American industry should implement aerobic fitness programs for the betterment of their employees even if there is some opposition to it at first. (A double dose of pronoun-reference grief!) Revision: American industry should implement aerobic fitness programs for the betterment of its employees even if there is some opposition to it at first.
It was the NBS engineers [who, whom?] Sen. Eagleton's office contacted on July 17. It was the NBS engineers [who, whom?] performed the tests on the walkways. Send a copy of the report to [whoever, whomever?] wants one. No one is sure [who, whom?] will be the next mayor. It was the NBS engineers to [who, whom?] Sen. Eagleton's office made the request for technical assistance.
It was the NBS engineers [who, whom?] Sen. Eagleton's office contacted on July 17. It was the NBS engineers [who, whom?] performed the tests on the walkways. Send a copy of the report to [whoever, whomever?] wants one. No one is sure [who, whom?] will be the next mayor. It was the NBS engineers to [who, whom?] Sen. Eagleton's office made the request for technical assistance.
Sen. Eagleton's office contacted the NBS engineers. The NBS engineers performed the tests on the walkways. [Who, whom] wants one? [Who, whom] will be the next mayor? Sen. Eagleton's office made the request for the technical assistance to the NBS engineers.
Sen. Eagleton's office contacted them. => (whom) They performed the tests on the walkways. => (who) He wants one? => (who) She will be the next mayor? => (who) Sen. Eagleton's office made the request for the technical assistance to them. => (whom)
It was the NBS engineers whom Sen. Eagleton's office contacted on July 17. It was the NBS engineers who performed the tests on the walkways. Send a copy of the report to whoever wants one. No one is sure who will be the next mayor. It was the NBS engineers to whom Sen. Eagleton's office made the request for technical assistance.
Capital letters should be used for proper names--formal, official names of things and people. For example, Tandem Corporation is a proper name; Mosaic is a proper name of a software product. However, a loose reference to the "development area" at IBM does not need caps; it's not the official name of that area. Similarly, WordPerfect is a proper name, but not its grammar-checking feature. In technical writing, the impulse is often to use caps for the components of a thing--fight it off! For example, if we were discussing the disk drive, the monitor, the CPU unit, the modem, the mouse, or the printer of a computing system, none of it should be capitalized. However, if we were talking about the the Dell NL40 Notebook computer, the Microsoft Mouse, or the IBM 6091 Display, then certainly caps are in order.
Of course, there are some exceptions. For example, in instructions, you want to reproduce the capitalization style shown on buttons, knobs, and other physical features of products as well as on the display screens of computer programs just as they are shown on the hardware. If I have a Service button on my computer, I'd write it as Service or SERVICE, whichever way it is shown on the machine.
A common misuse of capitalization involves acronyms. You know that whenever you use an acronym in your text, you should spell it out first then show its acronym in parentheses. Writers often want to put the spelled-out version in initial caps; you would do so only if the spelled-out version were a proper name in its own right:
The National Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) was formed just after Word War II. When you turn your computer on, it normally goes through a process called initial program load (IPL).These capitalization rules often get bent a little in resumes and application letters. Typically, names of occupations and fields, and job titles get initial caps. By standard capitalization rules, that's not correct, but the usage is so strong in these two types of documents that it has become acceptable.
Some 19 million tons of sulphur dioxide are discharged from US sources alone each year, and another 14 million tons from Canada.(Using the number "19" and the word "million" indicates an approximate amount. "19,000,000" might make some readers think it was an exact amount.) It was not until after December 1952, when 4000 people died in London from air pollution in just a few days, that real gains in pollution-control legislation were made. The US Army's standard airborne Doppler navigator weighs 28 lb (12.7 kg), requires 89 W of power, and operates at 13.325-GHz frequency. All vitrain of the European classification, if more than 14 micrometers thick, has been regarded as anthraxylon. In 1971, 11 countries accounted for about 91 percent of world production of coal. The Department of the Interior has just published a report that reviews 65 different coal gasification processes. Combustion turbines total about 8% of the total installed capability of US utility systems and supply less than 3% of the total energy generated. Internal combustion engines in small power plants account for about 1% of the total power-system generating capability of the US. The water-cement ratio will generally range from 4 gal of water per sack of cement to about 9 gal per sack. (These are exact values here; in technical writing, use the numeral even if it is below 10.) The problem is located in piston number 6. (When there enumerated items or parts, technical writing uses the number, as in this example. But notice that no "#" or "No." is used.) The signal occurs in 6-second intervals. The order is for 6-, 8-, and 12-foot two-by-fours. Use Code 3 if a system shutdown occurs. Mined coals commonly contain between 5 and 15 percent mineral matter. The above illustration shows a 20-unit coaxial cable with 9 working coaxial pairs and 2 standby coaxials, which automatically switch in if the electronics of the regular circuits fail. There are 59 different species of the coffee shrub, but only 4 are of commercial importance. Most grinds of coffee contain particles ranging in size from 0.023 to 0.055 inches in diameter. Using carrier frequencies between 0.535 MHz and 1.605 MHz in the US, AM broadcasting stations sprang up all over the country beginning in the 1910s. As a base from which to work, 2-1/2 to 3 gal of water are needed for each sack of cement for complete hydration and maximum strength. (These are exact values; therefore, in the technical-writing context, we use numerals. Notice how fractional values are handled: put a hyphen between the whole number and the fraction to prevent misreading.) The order for twelve 30-foot beams was placed yesterday. The order was for 30 fifteen-gallon tubs. They used six 8-pound sacks of nails. The microprocessors of the 70s and 80s operated under the control of clocks running at 1 to 5 MHz, that is, 1 to 5 million counts per second. Your eye has a bandwidth of 370 trillion Hz, the visible spectrum. Transmission rates on ETHERNET range from 1 to 10 megabits per second (0.125 to 1.25 million bytes per second). In 1978, the satellite carriers' revenues were about $88 million, and by 1986, they are expected to reach $800 million. Most communications satellites are in geostationary orbit: at an altitude of 22,300 miles over the surface of the earth and at a distance of 26,260 miles from the center of the earth (the earth's radius being 3960 miles). Aggregates constitute about 70 percent of a concrete mix. Uniform compaction of 95% or better of standard AASHO densities is recommended. In this book, Chapter 7 discusses the different audiences of technical prose and translation techniques for communicating effectively with the less specialized ones. The wheels of the four-wheel tractor give it increased speed over the Crawler, but because of the weight distribution over four wheels rather than over two wheels or tracks, this vehicle has less traction. Hundreds of thousands of people will have purchased microcomputers by the end of 1980. Tens of millions of them will bought them by the end of the century. There are two telephones in service today for every three people in the US. In 1965, Dr. Gordon Moore announced his "law" that the complexity of a chip would double every year for ten years. (Use the word "ten" here because it is not an exact amount.) The typical stand-alone microcomputer system consists of seven physical components. (Use the word "seven" here because, even though it seems like an exact amount, it is not a key value. It doesn't have the same significance as the "7"would have in "7 quarts of oil.") If you are using page-zero addressing, use a RAM for memory page zero. Primary fuel cells are those through which reactants are passed only one time. Before recharging, A zinc-carbon battery must have a working voltage not less than one volt. (Even in technical-writing contexts, rules for one and zero vary. Just pick a style and stay with it. Using the word "one" is the standard in this example.) Japan has roughly one-third of the US production of dry batteries. (In running text, always write out fraction like this, and hyphenate them. However, you'd still write "5-1/2 inches.") The radial fractures are so extensive that they are the dominant structural element over half of Mars's surface. (And just to be sure, "half" by itself in running text is always a word.) A nanosecond is one-billionth of a second. Inside the UP are three 16-bit registers. (When you have two separate numerical values side by side, one has to be a word, and the other a numeral. Styles vary here, but make the numeral the higher number. Contrast with the next example.) Data from the frequency counter take the form of 16 seven-bit ASCII words. Sales of batteries have increased from $510 million on the average during 1957-1959 to $867 million in 1966 and are projected to exceed $1.8 billion in 1980. The speed of light is roughly 300 million meters per second. Fifty-three representatives of different software development companies showed up at the meeting. (Never start a sentence with a numeral in any writing context. With this example, some rewriting might be a wise idea to get the numerical out of the beginning of the sentence, as in the following rewrite.) At the meeting, 53 representatives of different software development companies showed up.
First of all, remember that symbols and abbreviations are distracting to readers; they are different from the normal flow of words. However, there are plenty of cases where the written-out version is more distracting than the symbol or abbreviation. Also, the context (specifically, technical or nontechnical) has a lot to do with which to use.
Imagine a technical document which has only one or two references to numerical measurements in inches. There is no reason to use symbols or abbreviations here--just write the thing out. But imagine a technical document with numerous feet and inch references: using symbols or abbreviations in this case is better, more readable, more efficient for both reader and writer. But which? Imagine the amount of foot and inch references there would be in a carpentry project (for example, a dog house). In this case, the symbols, " and ' would be greatly preferable. However, this would be an extreme case; otherwise, use the abbreviations.
Which are the standard symbols and abbreviations to use? Go with the standards in the field in which you are writing, or with those found in a standard reference book such as a dictionary. Don't make them up yourself (for example, "mtrs" for meters)!
What about plurals? Very few abbreviations take an s to indicate plural: for example 5 in. means 5 inches. For the few that you think might take the s, check a dictionary.
What about obscure abbreviations and symbols? If you are concerned that readers might not recognize the abbreviation or symbol, write its full name in parentheses just after the the first occurrence of that abbreviation or symbol.
Here are some examples of abbreviations or symbols in text:
High resolution displays use larger video bandwidths, up to 30 MHz or more. Most touch-sensitive displays use a matrix of either LED/photodiodes or transparent capacitor arrays to detect a physical touch. The part of the memory that is easily alterable by the operator consists of RAM chips. A satellite in geostationary orbit looks at the earth with a cone angle of 17.3ø corresponding to an arc of 18,080 km along the equator. The arc from 53ø W to 139ø W will cover 48 states (excluding Alaska and Hawaii) and is said to provide conus coverage. Fairchild Industries, Inc., was an early participant in commercial satellites. The voice was compressed from the usual 64-kb/s pulse code modulation (PCM) to 32 kb/s per channel by near-instantaneous companding (a modified PCM technique). Terrestrial microwave radio communications require repeaters spaced every 20 to 40 mi from each other. Over a period of several days the spacecraft is tracked from the ground and positioned on station (i.e., in the preassigned orbital spot) in order to commence operations. A velocity increment of approximately 155 ft/s per year is required to correct drift problems in satellites. The ancient battery-like objects made by the Parthians in 250 BC were thin sheets of copper soldered into a cylinder 1.125 cm long and 2.6 cm in diameter. The standard electrodes are the normal and the 0.1 normal (N) calomel electrodes in which the system is Hg|KCl solution saturated with HgCl. Such batteries contain 4400 cc of water in which NaOH is dissolved. Water pressure in the heat recovery loop can be as much as 25 psig.Return to the table of contents for the TCM1603 Course Guide (the online textbook for Austin Community College's online technical writing course).