[3155] in TECHWR-L
Re: Using contractions
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Shannon Ford)
Thu Nov 11 04:36:48 1993
Date: Thu, 11 Nov 1993 09:47:09 +0100
Reply-To: "Technical Writers List; for all Technical Communication issues" <TECHWR-L%OSUVM1.BITNET@mitvma.mit.edu>
From: Shannon Ford <shannon@UNIFACE.NL>
To: Multiple recipients of list TECHWR-L <TECHWR-L%OSUVM1.BITNET@mitvma.mit.edu>
> I never use contractions in documentation unless I am quoting
> conversation (maybe not even then) because, as far as I have been
> able to discover here in Australia, contractions are NEVER taught
> in ESL classes so a significant portion of the readership would
> not understand them.
>
We also never use contractions for this same reason--a great number of our
readers are not native English speakers.
Shannon Ford
fords@uniface.nl
