Usage question - subjunctive mood? (WAS: anyone looking for a writer?)
Jeremy H. Griffith
jeremy at omsys.com
Sun Apr 7 13:05:57 PDT 2013
On Sun, 7 Apr 2013 12:07:55 -0400, John Sgammato <john.sgammato at actifio.com> wrote:
>As for the use of the subjunctive, it is now and has always been the case
>that while correct usage has many advantages it can sound "hifalutin' ".
>You must consider the consumers of your information product, and the SMEs
>you rely upon.
>
>When an earnest Chinese engineer at my last job asked me about the use of
>the subjunctive mood, I counseled him to learn it for his own mastery of
>the language, but in his everyday use it would never be necessary. Not only
>do people understand you when you misuse esoteric grammar - they may think
>you are just being an obnoxious smarty-pants. Our goal is clear
>communication first.
And thus, to avoid being "hifalutin' ", we return to the original
Tech Writers' Motto, which I had on my office wall in 1960:
"Cacography Did Cheap"
;-)
-- Jeremy H. Griffith, at Omni Systems Inc.
<jeremy at omsys.com> http://mif2go.com/
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