Contrasts robotic editing with human editing (discussing descriptive grammar, periodic sentences, theme-rheme concept, right-branching, zeugma, and Irish bulls). Maintains that, for any editing that requires thinking, humans are always superior. (SR)

Explores some of the confusion about singular and plural subject-verb agreement in English. (SR)

Discusses the use of "there is" and "there are," and recommends notional agreement (agreement of a verb with its subject or of a pronoun with its antecedent in accordance with the notion of number rather than with the presence of an overt grammatical marker for that notion) as a useful approach to deciding which to use. (SR)

Discusses the use of "and" and "or" in technical writing. Suggests that the strict meanings of "and" and "or" are called for in technical writing much more than in ordinary prose. (SR)

Maintains that the goal of editing technical writing is not to resist incursions against "correctness" but to facilitate communication. Argues for letting authors use the words native to their own technical idiom. (SR)

Gives a case history of how one writing group devised a way to deal with the problem of author-created noun strings and long, indecipherable unit modifiers, satisfying both internal and external clients. Describes the development of an in-house usage guide. (PRA)

Analyzes ambiguity as a factor in Japanese language and culture as they affect technical communication. Presents and interprets results of a survey of Japanese and U.S. aerospace engineers and scientists concerning the kinds of communication products they produce and use and their ideas of what should be taught in technical communication courses.…

Describe the specifically literary nature of engineering design and discusses preliminary evidence concerning how students of design engineering manage their literacy practice. (SR)

Discusses issues of document organization, document length, and writing style for avoiding bureaucratese in writing government documents. (SR)