[Typo] a weird sentence in ch1, writer guide.

Gary

Hello Jay and Tom

The USA and UK are two countries separated by one language - English -
and the ne'er the twain shall meet ;-())))

Avoiding the use of the apostrophe is one thing we should consider. It does help users whose mother tongue is not English because the grammar rules for the apostrophe are difficult to understand with the possessive apostrophe being the hardest. Comes from personal experience of working in several non-English countries. Also, if you work in the aviation industry and use Simplified English, the apostrophe is definitely out.

Out of curiosity, just why is the apostrophe banned from the aviation industry? Is its use a real risk to safety?

I have held an FAA Airframe & Powerplant (A&P) Mechanic's certificate since the 1980s and have been a licensed pilot since 1971 and was unaware of any aviation dangers attributed to apostrophes--up to now.

Gary

My guess is that non-native speakers more easily could misunderstand the contraction particularly when quickly scanning a document. The only contraction I can think of is you're for you are vs your.

An very common adage in safety is to make the instructions very clear and precise and avoid any wording/phrasing/contractions/etc that could cause confusion. This is especially important when there is a problem and quick/accurate comprehension is critical.

Gary

Hello Jay and Tom

The USA and UK are two countries separated by one language - English -
and the ne'er the twain shall meet ;-())))

Avoiding the use of the apostrophe is one thing we should consider. It does help users whose mother tongue is not English because the grammar rules for the apostrophe are difficult to understand with the possessive apostrophe being the hardest. Comes from personal experience of working in several non-English countries. Also, if you work in the aviation industry and use Simplified English, the apostrophe is definitely out.

Out of curiosity, just why is the apostrophe banned from the aviation industry? Is its use a real risk to safety?

I have held an FAA Airframe & Powerplant (A&P) Mechanic's certificate since the 1980s and have been a licensed pilot since 1971 and was unaware of any aviation dangers attributed to apostrophes--up to now.

Gary

My guess is that non-native speakers more easily could misunderstand the contraction particularly when quickly scanning a document. The only contraction I can think of is you're for you are vs your.

One typical classic is: they're, their, and there. In another sense, there is: chord, cored, and cord.

Gary

Hi :slight_smile:
Here, there and where all have "here" as part of the word. 
Makes it easier to remember.
Regards from
Tom :slight_smile:

In US English, the three words Mary, marry, and merry all sound alike in the Great American dialect--the major of the four main US dialects, used by broadcasters and in most of the US. But in the US Northeast, those three words are each pronounced distinctly differently.

Gary

Very verbose, but what purpose does this thread serve? And if we
have so much time to write all of this, why are we not using this time
to write more documentation?
     Base among other guides could use some help right about now.
     You do not know very much about Base specifically, or databases in
general? Do I have a college course for you! Stanford University (of of
the top engineering schools in the USA) has 4 free online courses in
computer science. One of these is Introducing databases.
     These courses are licensed under the Creative Commons
Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License. Is this
materials usable in the Base Guides? Seems the only problem is that it
could not be put in a soft or hard copy book. Sales would likely be
prohibited as well.
     Any further discussion of any thing past the first paragraph should
be copied onto the top of a new email with its own new Subject.
     Yes, I have "hijacked" this thread in a sense, but I am a little
upset about the waste of time put into this thread in the past. I do not
apologize.

--Dan

Hello Gary

In Simplified English (not simple English), used in the aviation industry, there are rules to follow and one of them is use of the apostrophe. So contractions or possessive apostrophes. You have to recompose your writing to get around using apostrophes.

The idea of Simplified English is to help non-English speakers using aviation manuals, which have to be written initially in American English according to ATA rules. If an aviation manual is then going to be translated it becomes easier to translate.

Also you have a specific dictionary for all the technical words that have to be used because in English you can have several words for the same item. A good example is empennage, which has to be used and for those who do not know what it means - it is the tail section of the aircraft body.

Simplified English is used by Airbus where I spent nearly four happy years in Hamburg.

Regards

Peter Schofield
psauthor@gmail.com

Roger that.

Gary