I’ve been posting lately about details in our writing that can make the difference in the image your writing conveys. Today I’m keeping to that theme.
I’m also keeping to the theme of the differences between written English and spoken English. Although they influence each other, these are two different animals! Treating them as such allows us to develop the higher standard of professionalism that every prosperous business wants for its image.
Often technical writers will need to compare the quantity of two items. In speech we often hear expressions like the one in the graphic above. And that use seems to make sense because the writer is making a comparison. Yet using compare with either more or less is grammatically incorrect.
It doesn’t matter whether you use compare with or compare to. Compare is simply the wrong word. Why? When you use more or less, you are starting to make a comparison. You don’t complete that construct by announcing what you are building. Rather you complete it by supplying the missing piece, the part that complements what you have already placed. That word is not compare. That word is than. Thus the writer should revise the sentence in the example graphic to read as follows:
I’m also keeping to the theme of the differences between written English and spoken English. Although they influence each other, these are two different animals! Treating them as such allows us to develop the higher standard of professionalism that every prosperous business wants for its image.
Often technical writers will need to compare the quantity of two items. In speech we often hear expressions like the one in the graphic above. And that use seems to make sense because the writer is making a comparison. Yet using compare with either more or less is grammatically incorrect.
It doesn’t matter whether you use compare with or compare to. Compare is simply the wrong word. Why? When you use more or less, you are starting to make a comparison. You don’t complete that construct by announcing what you are building. Rather you complete it by supplying the missing piece, the part that complements what you have already placed. That word is not compare. That word is than. Thus the writer should revise the sentence in the example graphic to read as follows:
Metal production from ore typically requires more energy in actuality than what theoretical calculations predict.
Spoken English doesn’t have the same sensitivities to structure that written English has. That’s part of why understanding the differences between spoken English and written English can put your writing ahead that of the crowd.
So don’t compare more or less than. Attend to the details that will give your writing more of the professional image that will reflect more favorably on both you and your brand.
So don’t compare more or less than. Attend to the details that will give your writing more of the professional image that will reflect more favorably on both you and your brand.
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