Can refers to possibility, whereas may refers to permission. The following conversation illustrates this:
Rahul: “Sir, can I go home?”
Teacher: “Yes Rahul, you can go home. You have legs and you know the way to your home. So, it is sure that you can go home, but, will I allow you to go?”
Rahul: “Sir, may I go home?”
Monday, July 27, 2009
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
Two Mistakes ………………
We all make mistakes. Some mistakes are more serious than others, and sometimes it takes friends and loved ones a long time to forgive and forget. Habits may lead to mistakes. The word HABIT takes me back to an old story. The fellow in the story had a HABIT—he drinks tea a lot. His quest to quit this HABIT was so strong that he managed to reduce the frequency of tea breaks. So, let us see what happened to his HABIT:
1st week: HABIT (A bit of it is there)
2nd week: HABIT (Bit of it is there)
3rd week: HABIT (Still, It is there)
4th week: HABIT(Tea?)
Well, to resolve the core problem, you have to kill many surrounding problems. Let us come to the topic, the mistakes a technical writer makes. Broadly, we can classify the mistakes into two:
Note: This classification is not based on the ground rules of the English language—grammar, usage, mechanics, and style. The impact of these mistakes determines the severity.
Content Related Mistakes:
Any mistake that misleads the user falls under this category.
Examples:
A wrong instruction, incorrect cross-reference, and so on.
Cosmetic Mistakes:
Any mistake that does not mislead the user, but does decrease the quality of the document falls under this category.
Examples:
Incorrect capitalization of headings, incorrect usage of gerund in a heading, and so on.
Though I tried to explain the difference between the two categories, for the benefit of our dubious friends, I would like to present it like:
If a traditional cosmetic-mistake misleads the user, categorize that mistake under the content-related mistakes.
For example, we consider the absence of a serial comma (also known as the Oxford comma) as a cosmetic mistake. But, consider:
Jay: "I am looking for an apartment with three bedrooms, bathroom with shower and kitchen."
Here the serial comma is absent; and it seems like Jay is looking for an apartment with a kitchen in the bathroom!
Let us see how a serial comma can change the meaning:
Jay: "I am looking for an apartment with three bedrooms, bathroom with shower, and kitchen."
[Who knows the rules of punctuations better than our tongue? So, definitely Jay might have got his dream apartment.]
If you ask me which mistake (content related or cosmetic) causes more problems, I would prefer the content related mistakes. Cosmetic mistakes are also mistakes, but if a reviewer finds 5 mistakes—out of which 3 are content related—in my document, I will resolve those 3 mistakes first, followed by the rest.
Here comes a cosmetic mistake in a heading:
How To Operate the Washing Machine
If I review the document, which carries this heading, I will suggest:
Incorrect capitalization. Change to: How to Operate the Washing Machine
Does 'to' make the user's clothes brighter than 'To'? Never! But, an incorrect instruction can make the manufacture's (company's) image dimmer than ever.
Let me conclude my thoughts in a tabular format:
QualityÞ Type of Mistake ß | A perfect document | The document is imperfect, correct the mistakes if possible | Danger! You must correct the mistakes | |
Content-related mistakes | No | No | Yes | Yes |
Cosmetic mistakes | No | Yes | Yes | No |
Word of Omen:
Forgive your girlfriend, if she forgets to wear the necklace that you gifted her. Forget her, if she leads you for a wrong move. Romeos won't agree; so as I.
Two Mistakes
We all make mistakes. Some mistakes are more serious than others, and sometimes it takes friends and loved ones a long time to forgive and forget. Habits may lead to mistakes. The word HABIT takes me back to an old story. The fellow in the story had a HABIT—he drinks tea a lot. His quest to quit this HABIT was so strong that he managed to reduce the frequency of tea breaks. So, let us see what happened to his HABIT:
1st week: ABIT (A BIT of it is there)
2nd week: BIT (BIT of it is there)
3rd week: IT (Still, IT is there)
4th week: T( Pronounce it, yes, Tea!)
Well, to resolve the core problem, you have to kill many surrounding problems. Let us come to the topic, the mistakes a technical writer makes. Broadly, we can classify the mistakes into two:
• Content related
• Cosmetic
Note: This classification is not based on the ground rules of the English language—grammar, usage, mechanics, and style.
Content Related Mistakes:
Any mistake that misleads the user falls under this category.
Examples:
A wrong instruction, incorrect cross-reference, and so on.
Cosmetic Mistakes:
Any mistake that does not mislead the user, but does decrease the quality of the document falls under this category.
Examples:
Incorrect capitalization of headings, incorrect usage of gerund in a heading, and so on.
Though I tried to explain the difference between the two categories, for the benefit of our dubious friends, I would like to present it like:
If a traditional cosmetic-mistake misleads the user, categorize that mistake under the content-related mistakes.
For example, we consider the absence of a serial comma (also known as the Oxford comma) as a cosmetic mistake. But, consider:
Jay: "I am looking for an apartment with three bedrooms, bathroom with shower and kitchen."
Here the serial comma is absent; and it seems like Jay is looking for an apartment with a kitchen in the bathroom!
Let us see how a serial comma can change the meaning:
Jay: "I am looking for an apartment with three bedrooms, bathroom with shower, and kitchen."
[Who knows the rules of punctuations better than our tongue? So, definitely Jay might have got his dream apartment.]
If you ask me which mistake is unpardonable, I would say the content related mistakes. Cosmetic mistakes are also mistakes, but, if a reviewer finds 5 mistakes—out of which 3 are content related—in my document, I will resolve those 3 mistakes first, followed by the rest.
Here comes a cosmetic mistake in a heading:
How To Operate the Washing Machine
As a reviewer my suggestion would be:
Incorrect capitalization. Change to: How to Operate the Washing Machine
Does to make my clothes brighter than To does? Never! But, an incorrect instruction can make the manufacture's (company's) image dimmer than ever.
Word of Omen:
Forgive your girlfriend, if she forgets to wear the necklace that you gifted her. Forget her, if she leads you for a wrong move. Romeos won't agree; so as I.
1st week: ABIT (A BIT of it is there)
2nd week: BIT (BIT of it is there)
3rd week: IT (Still, IT is there)
4th week: T( Pronounce it, yes, Tea!)
Well, to resolve the core problem, you have to kill many surrounding problems. Let us come to the topic, the mistakes a technical writer makes. Broadly, we can classify the mistakes into two:
• Content related
• Cosmetic
Note: This classification is not based on the ground rules of the English language—grammar, usage, mechanics, and style.
Content Related Mistakes:
Any mistake that misleads the user falls under this category.
Examples:
A wrong instruction, incorrect cross-reference, and so on.
Cosmetic Mistakes:
Any mistake that does not mislead the user, but does decrease the quality of the document falls under this category.
Examples:
Incorrect capitalization of headings, incorrect usage of gerund in a heading, and so on.
Though I tried to explain the difference between the two categories, for the benefit of our dubious friends, I would like to present it like:
If a traditional cosmetic-mistake misleads the user, categorize that mistake under the content-related mistakes.
For example, we consider the absence of a serial comma (also known as the Oxford comma) as a cosmetic mistake. But, consider:
Jay: "I am looking for an apartment with three bedrooms, bathroom with shower and kitchen."
Here the serial comma is absent; and it seems like Jay is looking for an apartment with a kitchen in the bathroom!
Let us see how a serial comma can change the meaning:
Jay: "I am looking for an apartment with three bedrooms, bathroom with shower, and kitchen."
[Who knows the rules of punctuations better than our tongue? So, definitely Jay might have got his dream apartment.]
If you ask me which mistake is unpardonable, I would say the content related mistakes. Cosmetic mistakes are also mistakes, but, if a reviewer finds 5 mistakes—out of which 3 are content related—in my document, I will resolve those 3 mistakes first, followed by the rest.
Here comes a cosmetic mistake in a heading:
How To Operate the Washing Machine
As a reviewer my suggestion would be:
Incorrect capitalization. Change to: How to Operate the Washing Machine
Does to make my clothes brighter than To does? Never! But, an incorrect instruction can make the manufacture's (company's) image dimmer than ever.
Word of Omen:
Forgive your girlfriend, if she forgets to wear the necklace that you gifted her. Forget her, if she leads you for a wrong move. Romeos won't agree; so as I.
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