Be Excellent To Each Other

Text in a manual:

Original:


Changed:


Comment:


Is daylight really an adjective in this use? I have to confess to being confused between the use of daylight as a noun and adjective.

If Night is a noun in this context, surely Daylight is, too.

Why is 'night' capitalised and in inverted commas?

The comment says that daylight doesn't need a capital letter when it hasn't got one in the first place. (Or is it how you've typed it?)

That would be my thoughts, but I want a bit of support as the guy who made the comment is a twat and I don't want to look like a fool when I challenge him.

Sorry, editd first post.

@Kalmar I have no idea.

Well, taking a guess then, there is such a (named) thing as "Night Mode" on the display, but no such thing as "Daylight Mode" - just normal operation.

If that is the case I would rephrase it as:
The display can be used in full daylight and also reduced lighting situations, using "Night Mode".

That, or it's suggesting "Night" as in, not actually night, but darkness. In which case it should say what it means, and the capital N is wrong there.

Definitely daytime but also night-time.

I thought you had it there (and a doffed hat goes your way for being so close) but it actually the other way around, there is a 'Sunlight' display title (along with Dusk, Dark, NVG and off)

I think the guy's just being a tit as the person who made the change is a student and the author is a pompous asshole.

Other comments include:

Similarly capitalised content
operational sieve pack to Operational Sieve Pack

No Caps, this is a description (Adjective) – not a name

How can 'operational sieve pack' not be a noun?

See operators’ manual for further information

changed to
See operator's manual for further information


Since when? If it belonged to multiple operators, this would be true. That is the only case, right?

Original:
3. Holding the PDS unit firmly, twist to unlock the battery cassette locking cover.

changed:
3. Holding the PDS unit firmly, twist the battery locking cover counter-clockwise to unlock Battery Cassette.

Comment:
'Battery' and 'locking' repeated twice in the same sentance - bad english

Cock!

Only proper nouns should have capital letters. None of the aforementioned examples are proper nouns so shouldn't be capitalised. A proper noun is the name of an entity. EG Fred, Kuala Lumpar, Accrington Stanley Football Club.

Yeah, I can't stand random capitalisation, however, putting that aside, his reasons for not doing so are incorrect (to my mind at least).

Yes, only if it's the manual belonging to the operators.
Possibly debatable but I'd definitely say operator's in that instance.



I know what you mean but it does student/graduates good to have a cock on their case (so to speak) as they'll be super-careful not to get caught out next time.

I'd say "operating manual" and avoid the argument.

Not if he plays by his own rules, though it'll certainly make you check the rules for yourself, fortifying your knowledge and battling the idiot with SCIENCE.



I'd do the same. Possessives are a nightmare in these cases.



I'm not sure I could take advice on language from someone who can't spell sentence, can't be arsed to capitalise a proper noun, uses a hyphen as a dash and apostrophes as quotation marks. Tell him to GTFF.

Also: capitalising non-proper nouns is stupid. This manual isn't the fucking Bible.

Is it just me, or do you have 'original' and 'changed' the wrong way round for this entire thread?

EDIT - Oh, or is he objecting to changes?

He is objecting to the changes.

Basically, a student read the document for me, modified it, and it got sent back, the Tech Author then threw a hissy fit and commented all the student's changes with sarcastic comments. The student is a 21 yr old Canadian, I am selling my product to Canadian squaddies, who I reckon will be early 20s, mostly. If the student can't understand it, then, neither will the squaddie. You would think the TA would want that sort of feedback.

Also:


I'm not sure I could take advice on language from someone who can't spell sentence, can't be arsed to capitalise a proper noun, uses a hyphen as a dash and apostrophes as quotation marks. Tell him to GTFF.

Also: capitalising non-proper nouns is stupid. This manual isn't the fucking Bible.[/quote]

Quite. I wouldn't mind him being a pompous arse, if was a correct pompous arse.

Yeah. He's a twat.

He doesn't know what an adjective is, or the difference between a regular and proper noun.

I'd advise that you cunt him in the bastard.

The only time non-proper nouns are allowed to be capitalised (other than at the start of a sentence) is when they're defined terms in a contract. Other than that, you're lining yourself up for the glue factory.

This. But you can also get away with it within certain limits if you're naming a film or book or something of the sort.

Spelling it "se7en", however, is still punishable by eternal face-stomping.

Part of my job involves telling PhD students that actually, no, their thesis can't have that title, and I will be correcting that capitalisation and taking that word out, and no, complaining won't help.

I find it to be far more fun than it probably should be.

Hello! Old threads popping up all over the place today.

Right, I am making bags for each of Darwin's nursery teachers. I am putting a quote on each of them, from Darwin. The quote is personal to the person (basically, I have sat him down and said tell me about X - what do you like best abut them, what are they good at, etc.

I want to keep the quote as close as I can to the words he has given me, but also tidy up any of his 3 year old grammar to at least make it work as a statement, so can you please help me out?



Is the better word here 'loud' or 'loudly'?

Loudly is correct. It's an adverb

I genuinely have no idea what that means. My English teacher was sacked for misconduct with a pupil and I was genuinely taught English Language by the sexy games teacher. I know, you can tell.

I’ll be back with six more (because of course there are seven teachers!)

No worries! I didn't know what an adverb was until Mini Paz learned about them recently.

I even got the quote wrong. Jeeps.



Is that still correct?

It works, but it's clunky.

How about "Singing loudly always makes Annie very happy"?

It’s a little too far from what Darwin said. I don’t mind it being clunky as long as it’s not completely wrong/nonsensical. It's still
Intended to be recognisable as the words of a three year old. It doesn’t have to be perfectly right, as long as it isn’t awfully wrong, if that makes sense?

I think this is a nice middle ground?

Perfect

Cheers Davpaz.

Going to get this one made to see how it looks then I may be back with more stupid questions

A very basic way of remembering is like this:

The verb is the doing word: “to sing”
The adjective is the describing word: “loud”
The adverb is the when an adjective is added to a verb to alter the “doing” of the word: “to sing loudly”

Adverbs usually finish -ly

“Singing” is a gerund but we won’t go into that now.

I'm seems unfair that an institution that would fire someone for misconduct with a pupil also employs someone that teaches students sexy games.

Sexy games teacher was there to talk to you about the dangers of the other teachers, I think. No wonder we were all so confused.

Cheers for the advice with this. The first one came out well so now I have to find out what he thinks of the other teachers. He’s pretty good at saying what they are all good at ‘paints lovely pictures, tells really good stories, teaches me about sharing’ but there’s one who I find a bit standoffish, and all he’ll say about her is ‘shuts the window’, ‘always says it’s too cold’, ‘good at saying nothing’. That one needs some work

How've you done these, Mimi? Is it iron-on vinyl from a cutter?

They look really good. My sister has a business selling bags like that and teacher gifts are always the biggest commissions.

It is exactly that

Cheers, Craster. I can see why they are a good commission point. Unlike most other gifts you don’t know *that* much about the teachers, and most of what you do know you garner via the slightly skewed ideas of a young child. I decided not to fight that this year, especially now that Darwin is much more vocal and full of opinions. I did plant pots last year that went down nicely, with a plant in.

And I try to make something partly because it makes it more affordable due to the number of staff. Darwin has one more year in nursery, so perhaps next year will be the last that I have to make a full seven gifts.

These are brilliant Mimi. There's someone at my daughters school that makes similar things but they look pap compared to yours.

In fact, a friend of MrsTheVision has a business doing exactly this and he's making loads off it! You should definitely look into making some money off them.

I’d like to, eventually. We’ve spoken about getting something up and running, but I need my health on s better place first, so I can consistently do things when I need to. Definitely getting there, though. Much better than I was 4-6 weeks ago, or any time since December. x

I know of the best Makers fair there is, was and ever shall be

Those bags are ace.

Also, adverbs are shit and unnecessary.


*Downs rum, shoots bull, burps*