Specification Structure
The Simplified Technical English specification consists of two Parts--Part 1: Writing Rules and Part 2: Dictionary. The Writing Rules specify restrictions on grammar and style usage. For example, they require writers to:
- Restrict the length of noun clusters to no more than 3 words
- Restrict sentence length to no more than 20 words (procedural sentences) or 25 words (descriptive sentences)
- Restrict paragraphs to no more than 6 sentences (in descriptive text)
- Avoid slang and jargon while allowing for specific terminology
- Make instructions as specific as possible
- Use articles such as "a/an" and "the" wherever possible
- Use simple verb tenses (past, present, and future)
- Use active voice
- Not use present participles or gerunds (unless part of a Technical Name)
- Write sequential steps as separate sentences
- Put commands first in warnings and cautions, with the exception of conditions
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Famous quotes containing the word structure:
“Each structure and institution here was so primitive that you could at once refer it to its source; but our buildings commonly suggest neither their origin nor their purpose.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)