Style notes: Difference between revisions
No edit summary |
|||
Line 21: | Line 21: | ||
<font size=2 color="#000000" face="Arial"> | <font size=2 color="#000000" face="Arial"> | ||
<div><font size=5 color="#993300" face="Verdana"> | <div><font size=5 color="#993300" face="Verdana">Rules</font></div> | ||
<div><font color="#010100" face="Verdana">Rules are always controversial. But all writers need these things to cling to.</font></div> | <div><font color="#010100" face="Verdana">Rules are always controversial. But all writers need these things to cling to.</font></div> | ||
<div><font color="#010100" face="Verdana">The following rules make a good litmus test. In general, if you can understand how these sentences break the very rules they promote, | <div><font color="#010100" face="Verdana">The following rules make a good litmus test. In general, if you can understand how these sentences break the very rules they promote, you can consider yourself to have mastered English.</font></div> | ||
<div><font color="#010100" face="Verdana">The point of many of these sentences is very hard to understand for those who use English as their second language, but mostly obvious to educated natives.</font></div> | <div><font color="#010100" face="Verdana">The point of many of these sentences is very hard to understand for those who use English as their second language, but mostly obvious to educated natives.</font></div> | ||
<div><table width="100%" border=0 cellpadding=4 bordercolor="#000000" cellspacing=0> | <div><table width="100%" border=0 cellpadding=4 bordercolor="#000000" cellspacing=0> | ||
<tr valign=top> | <tr valign=top> | ||
<td bgcolor="#ff6600"><font size=2 color="#000000" face="Arial"> | <td bgcolor="#ff6600"><font size=2 color="#000000" face="Arial"> | ||
<div><font size= | <div><font size=2 color="#ffffff" face="Verdana"><b>Writer's Rules, OK ?</b></font></div> | ||
</font> | </font> | ||
</td> | </td> | ||
Line 34: | Line 34: | ||
</table> | </table> | ||
</div> | </div> | ||
<div><font color="#010100" face="Verdana">These rules are normally attributed to William Safire, "the most widely read writer on the English language".</font></div> | <div><font color="#010100" face="Verdana">These rules are normally attributed to William Safire, "the most widely read writer on the English language". In reality, these "Fumble Rules" have a long history and there are many, many variants of these lists. Some may have descended from the "xeroxlore" that circulated throughout campuses and offices in the 1970s. </font></div> | ||
<div><font color="#010100" face="Verdana">01. Remember to never split an infinitive.</font></div> | <div><font color="#010100" face="Verdana">01. Remember to never split an infinitive.</font></div> | ||
<div><font color="#010100" face="Verdana">02. The passive voice should never be used.</font></div> | <div><font color="#010100" face="Verdana">02. The passive voice should never be used.</font></div> | ||
Line 125: | Line 125: | ||
<div><font color="#010100" face="Verdana">Mark Twain wrote (in a letter):</font></div> | <div><font color="#010100" face="Verdana">Mark Twain wrote (in a letter):</font></div> | ||
<div><font color="#010100" face="Verdana">"I notice you use plain simple, language, short words, and brief sentences. That is the way to write English."</font></div> | <div><font color="#010100" face="Verdana">"I notice you use plain simple, language, short words, and brief sentences. That is the way to write English."</font></div> | ||
Revision as of 11:06, 27 October 2006
In general terms, we follow Microsoft guidelines for terminology, as detailed in:
Microsoft® Computer Dictionary, Fifth Edition (Microsoft Press, 05/01/2002).
This establishes basic meanings, spellings and wordforms.
Unfortunately, this has not been updated for more than five years although MicroSoft (MS) terminology changes almost as often as they issue software patches.
More recent glossaries can be accessed through http://www.microsoft.com/resources/glossary/default.mspx.
Some exceptions are noted below:
We use ie. (NOT i.e.) for "that is", and eg. (NOT e.g.) "for example". This violates Microsoft documentation standards, but we like to live dangerously.
We also use etc. as an abbreviation for "et cetera" (it means "and so on"). Curiously, this also violates MS standards, but you'll find many examples of this in their software and documentation.
Like MS, we use both "System tray" and "Notification area" as the name of the right-hand section of the Taskbar that normally includes the clock. (If anyone's actually interested, there's a whole debate about it [here].)
For Your Amusement
Writer's Rules, OK ?
|
Life
|
George Orwell
|
Mark Twain
|