The views concerning “dangling participles” of grammarians, usage experts and authors of books on technical writing are reviewed and compared. Although many unattached clauses are clearly unacceptable, some are less objectionable and still others are acceptable practice. Absolute constructions and other clause-relational participial, infinitival and verbless clauses need no attachment to a proximate noun or noun phrase, and logical clauses that are not attached to a noun are shown as normal, acceptable use. Even clearly adjectival clauses are often unattached when followed by the passive voice, intransitives and several other grammatical structures; clauses between the subject and verb and at the end of the sentence are also often not attached to the immediately preceding noun. Cultural (perhaps also gender) differences between humanistic teachers and task-oriented engineers are noted as possible causes of different viewpoints regarding the use of unattached participles, and greater acceptance of the many acceptable forms of unattached clauses is argued.

The prescriptive principles often used to improve writing in general genres have little relevance to the very complex legal prose found in acts or other technically legal documents. This article explores some of the stylistic complexities of definitions and requirements in a Canadian Provincial Act, and generates and justifies fifteen recommendations for creating a plainer legal language in acts. The recommendations range from orthographic presentation, referencing, and sentence arrangement to complex listing, clause separations and punctuation. Although only the English language version of the Act is studied in detail, reference is made to the French version where that is helpful.

Complex noun phrases, although key elements in technical writing for linguistically mature readers, also present major comprehension difficulties for others. This article establishes many important ways of paraphrasing complex noun phrases into simpler structures, and identifies the differences in meaning, style, is tone, and emphasis created by the paraphrases. Whereas many complex noun phrases at the start of the sentence can be easily paraphrased, those at the end of the sentence or embedded within the sentence present greater challenges. Similarly restrictive post-modifiers are easier to paraphrase than those that define. The principles are applied to a short legal text.

Extracts from technical advertising and new-product announcements are used as the basis for analysis of the structures and linguistic signaling of many forms of comparison. Based initially on descriptive texts, the analysis also explains problem-solving texts with and without comparison; and comparative texts are seen to include implicit differences or overt comparison as “knocking” copy. Comparative cohesion by co-hyponyms is shown to be the central feature of co-associative cohesion between separate features of competing products, and clause-relating matching relations are explained in these terms. The concept of improvement is discussed in terms of problem-solving, difference and the matching relations of comparative denial. Final notes are provided regarding the significance of this work to the developing paradigm of technical writing.

This article is placed within the defined area of study of “coherence,” which is seen as one of the three parts of recent work in the “discourse analysis” of contemporary English prose with emphasis on technical writing. One element of the total system of coherence is seen to be the “associated nominal” which, together with repetition, substitution, deletion, synonymy, among others, enables writers to maintain the thread of continuity in a text. Introductory details of associated nominals are given, and some of their purposes and environments of use are described with the use of examples of actual English use. Potential effects of this work on the teaching of technical writing are mentioned, and detailed references and anannotated bibliography assist readers who may wish to read further.

Information, commands, and requirements not only must be understood—they must be credible too. That is, they must be such that they change the knowledge or understanding of the readers, or else they demand appropriate action. These introductory notes explain under what circumstance statements need to be made more credible and they explain how to add credibility at the clause, sentence, paragraph, and section levels. Principles of syllogistic reasoning, analogies, and experimental reasoning are also discussed. Brief mention is made of the related instruction for students and professional engineers.

The traditional instruction of technical report writing leans heavily on the conventions of English grammar and on principles advocated by grammarians, journalists, and literature scholars. The effect has been so strong—particularly in North America—that the word “technical” in technical writer, technical writing, and technical reports has literally become almost meaningless. This article discusses a few important differences between technical and nontechnical writing. It also explains some shortcomings of the traditional instruction and suggests methods of improvement.

The simple conjunctions of the English language are defined in terms of truth tables to show the relationship between logic and linguistic coupling words. Some principles and problems of deduction in technical writing are discussed in terms: of linguistic couplers, of the technical level necessary for understanding the premises, and of the criteria for judging arguments in different fields of reasoning. This is an introductory paper; it discusses several related principles of technical reasoning, and it provides detailed references and a brief annotated bibliography for those who wish to read further.

The roles and importance of sentence-coupling conjunctions in general technical writing are analyzed. Based on a previous paper (which explained the meanings of these coupling words), this paper examines ways of improving logical argument, of providing continuity of thought between sentences, and of improving readability. Useful redundancy and punctuation are also briefly discussed in relation to coupling words. Comparative tables of incidental couplers, determiners, and redundant couplers are provided as practical aids to the technical writer and editor.

Few technical writers and editors understand the roles and importance of conjunctions. In fact, many find it hard to distinguish between otherwise and alternatively, between while and whereas, and between however and hence—imprecisions that too often lead to unclear writing or even technical inaccuracies. This paper uses a practical linguistic approach to describe word types that couple sentence patterns: those that subordinate a clause to the main part of a sentence pattern; those that conjoin clauses, phrases, or words; and those that connect clauses together. A “Table of Couplers” groups the main conjunctions into sub-sets according to meaning, thus allowing comparison and easy selection of the most appropriate word.