Tag: Kathy Underwood

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The Technical Stylist Discusses Troubling Irregularities

Kathy Underwood

Which of the following usages are correct according to Edited American English? (Answers are at the end of this article.)

1a The company forecasted a 20% increase in earnings for the fiscal year.
1b The company forecast a 20% increase in earnings for the fiscal year.

2a Last night, meteorologist Greg Fishel forecasted a major storm for this weekend.
2b Last night, meteorologist Greg Fishel forecast a major storm for this weekend.

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A Summary and Topical Review of MMOS 4, 2012

Kathy Underwood

In the field of software documentation, Microsoft Manual of Style, Fourth Edition, is a watershed, especially in its effort to frame terminology and discourse vis-à-vis the natural user interface (that is, the new types of interfaces that have begun to appear, especially those that use contact gestures and air gestures).

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The Technical Stylist on the Battle of the Usage Guides

Kathy Underwood

In the Technical Editing Department at SAS Institute Inc. (a worldwide software company), one of the questions we often get from around the company staffers is about which is the best grammar and usage guide. We do have a standard list of style references, which includes the Chicago Manual of Style (16th edition), the Microsoft Manual of Style (3rd edition now—4th edition coming in January), the Global English Style Guide (by our own staffer, John Kohl), and Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary (11th Edition).
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The Technical Stylist Reviews

Kathy Underwood

The Subversive Copy Editor: Advice from Chicago (Or, How to Negotiate Good Relationships with Your Writers, Your Colleagues, and Yourself) by Carol Fisher Saller (University of Chicago Press, 2009)

For several years, I taught technical editing (among other courses) at the University of Washington. If I were still teaching that course, I would include this book as required reading. Although almost all textbooks on technical editing cover the weighty matter of

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