Lately I’ve been addressing precision of language in technical writing. Actually, it’s been a subject of my weekly posts for the last few months. That’s because precision of language in technical writing is a “big ticket item.” Exercising it in your technical writing makes your documents all the more effective.
Two posts ago I examined the inappropriate use of ‘til in replacing until in technical writing. In the last post we examined another such swap — replacing the more precise somewhat with the more vague some. In this post we'll discuss another vagary — so.
In all of these cases the difference between spoken and written English has played an important role. Each of these examples introduce informality which more effective technical writing typically avoids.
Such is often the case when writers employ the word so. Although vague terms often find acceptance in spoken English, that same acceptance doesn’t always transfer to written English. More effective technical writers will always choose another word when it more precisely communicates the intended meaning.
Consider the example sentence in the cropped graphic above. As used, so appears acceptable. However, the intended meaning is to convey a cause-and-effect relationship between the elements represented in each of the phrases in the sentence. So can do that, but another word like because does that same job more effectively. This means more effective writers will revise that example sentence to employ more precise language.
Two posts ago I examined the inappropriate use of ‘til in replacing until in technical writing. In the last post we examined another such swap — replacing the more precise somewhat with the more vague some. In this post we'll discuss another vagary — so.
In all of these cases the difference between spoken and written English has played an important role. Each of these examples introduce informality which more effective technical writing typically avoids.
Such is often the case when writers employ the word so. Although vague terms often find acceptance in spoken English, that same acceptance doesn’t always transfer to written English. More effective technical writers will always choose another word when it more precisely communicates the intended meaning.
Consider the example sentence in the cropped graphic above. As used, so appears acceptable. However, the intended meaning is to convey a cause-and-effect relationship between the elements represented in each of the phrases in the sentence. So can do that, but another word like because does that same job more effectively. This means more effective writers will revise that example sentence to employ more precise language.
Because the welders have been using the new weld procedure, failure testing has improved.
Failure testing has improved because the welders have been using the new weld procedure.
Failure testing has improved because the welders have been using the new weld procedure.
It’s very common in speech to employ informal constructs. More effective technical writing demands that writers avoid informality. So avoid so vague a word as so. Use the word that more clearly communicates your message. More precise language means a better presentation of your message to your audience, and that will leave them with a better impression of both you and your brands.
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