[Framers] "Exemplified" - use in technical documentation?

Steve Rickaby srickaby at wordmongers.demon.co.uk
Wed Jun 1 02:35:39 PDT 2016


For some reason the original posting for this thread did not arrive here (or has not arrived yet), so forgive me if I've misunderstood.

'Exemplified' is a word that should not appear in technical documentation imho. For a start, as Bernard has commented, in many (here in the UK, anyway) cases we should be writing for an audience that may not have English as its first language. 'Exemplified' has four syllables. Why use a long word when a short one will do?

Yes, we should always try to stick to the active voice, unless it introduces ambiguity, or in specialized circumstances, such as academic writing.

Also, what is the context? Obfuscatory language (i.e. language that uses words like 'obfuscatory' ;-) can pose a serious risk in, for example, safety-critical applications.

If the original poster's example was something like '...as exemplified in Figure x.x.', absolutely prefer 'Figure x.x shows...'. Or even just the tried and tested 'Yah de yah: see Figure x.x'. 'As exemplified' poses a relative reference that the reader is forced to resolve (What exemplifies it? What exemplifies what?), distracting them from understanding the content.

If some flavor of 'exemplified' is required, how about 'Figure x.x. shows an example'?

-- 
Steve


More information about the Framers mailing list