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Mitranim Posted 13 years ago
Grammar
Omission of function words in context
Preface: my native language has no articles or tense verbs, so it was somewhat hard to even start noticing this phenomenon, let alone understand clearly enough to explain to other people. Thus the question.
I've been noticing that UI elements of applications and websites often speak to the user in a Headlinese-like language. For example:
? Item deleted instead of The item has been deleted
? Estimated size 66 MB instead of The estimated size is 66 MB
This usually pertains to status updates on program / webapp activity. I have a general understanding of when, why and how it happens, but I also want to explain it to my colleagues to improve the quality of English in our software products. That's why I'm requesting help.
The question is twofold:
? Could you please explain the limits of this omission? By this, I mean how do you draw the line between where it's done and where it's not? Also, are any other kinds of words, beside definite articles and tenses, affected by this?
? Could you please try to provide some links to articles devoted to explaining this phenomenon? I've spent some time searching, but utterly failed to find anything relevant. (I kept running into webpages explaining basic things like the zero article.)
I've been noticing that UI elements of applications and websites often speak to the user in a Headlinese-like language. For example:
? Item deleted instead of The item has been deleted
? Estimated size 66 MB instead of The estimated size is 66 MB
This usually pertains to status updates on program / webapp activity. I have a general understanding of when, why and how it happens, but I also want to explain it to my colleagues to improve the quality of English in our software products. That's why I'm requesting help.
The question is twofold:
? Could you please explain the limits of this omission? By this, I mean how do you draw the line between where it's done and where it's not? Also, are any other kinds of words, beside definite articles and tenses, affected by this?
? Could you please try to provide some links to articles devoted to explaining this phenomenon? I've spent some time searching, but utterly failed to find anything relevant. (I kept running into webpages explaining basic things like the zero article.)
Top answer
Mitranim Could you please explain the limits of this omission? By this, I mean how do you draw the line between where it's done and where it's not? Also, are any other kinds of words, beside definite articles and tenses, affected by this?
- Mitranim Could you please explain the limits of this omission?
- By this, I mean how do you draw the line between where it's done and where it's not?
- Also, are any other kinds of words, beside definite articles and tenses, affected by this?
- e.
- formal writing: it is done in headlines, captions, titles, lists, etc.
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4 Answers
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MitranimCould you please explain the limits of this omission? By this, I mean how do you draw the line between where it's done and where it's not? Also, are any other kinds of words, beside definite articles and tenses, affected by this?In places that are not narrative or expository writing, i.e. formal writing: it is done in headlines, captions, titles, list
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Thank you for the answer. I'm surprised by the scarcity of relevant information, but I guess that's because, as you said, this is part of the natural flow of the language.
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I don't think it's that "tense verbs" are missing. The verb "to be" is almost always omitted in all its forms (the backup has been cancelled), and the others are often in the imperative mood, which uses the base form: "Press <ENTER> to begin." The telegraphic UI style is just a convention that I suppose arose in the days when 128K was a lot of RAM. There is no other rea
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enoonThe telegraphic UI style is just a convention that I suppose arose in the days when 128K was a lot of RAM. There is no other reason not to use ordinary language now.Actually, it's still very relevant. Brevity is important in a lot of things, like newspaper headlines, or UI interfaces in programs and webapps. Even from a user's standpoint, I much prefer U
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