atw: Re: Time for another debate?

Geoffrey and all,

You've gone out of your way to be provocative! Your sample chapter titles are 
indeed poor - not because they are verbose but because they are imprecise. 
"Entering bookings" is fine if that's all the chapter is about; if it's also 
about changing and deleting bookings, say so! (One could argue that "deleting" 
is a form of "changing", so just "Entering and changing bookings" is on the 
money.)

Just "Bookings" _might_ be OK, but I think it might also set up some false 
expectations - "I don't want to know about 'bookings' as in the database 
format, etc; I just want to know how to do my job. So this chapter isn't for 
me."

Like an index, a table of contents (yes, with just "Contents" in its own 
heading) needs to present signposts in terms that readers will understand, and 
preferably terms they will use themselves. 

As for the grammatical issues raised (gerunds, noun phrases, etc), I won't go 
there . . . best let sleeping logs lie!

Michael Lewis
Lecturer
Department of Linguistics
MACQUARIE UNIVERSITY NSW 2109

Phone: +61 (0)2 9850 7856
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