Re: Manual of Style: Use of contractions

On 11/12/2016 02:20 PM, Michiel Bijl (list) wrote:
> Dear spec-prod,
>
> Yesterday I changed the ARIA Authoring Practices Guide to use contractions where applicable. I soon reverted this change
> because James Nurthen pointed me to the Manual of Style <https://www.w3.org/2001/06/manual/#Grammar>§11.2 G
> <https://www.w3.org/2001/06/manual/#Grammar>rammar which states:
>
>> Eliminate contractions (e.g., "don't" should read "do not")?
>
> I for one think that’s strange advice. [...]
>
> I therefore propose to change the line to something that would fit both W3C specs and humans:
>
>>   * Use contractions thoughtfully
>>   * Avoid contractions when you need to use RFC 2119 terms.
>
> While RFC 2119 <http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc2119.txt> doesn’t actually state that you shouldn’t use contractions, I feel it’s
> generally interpreted that way. Please correct me on that if I’m wrong.

I'm in favor of the change!

~fantasai

Received on Thursday, 22 December 2016 21:32:02 UTC