atw: Style question: "Number" or "No."
- From: "Jill Nicholson" <jpnicho@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <austechwriter@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Mon, 25 Oct 2010 14:36:15 +1100
I wouldn't even use Our - who else could it refer to??
Reference:xxxx
Jill
----- Original Message -----
From: Howard Silcock
To: austechwriter@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Sent: Tuesday, October 12, 2010 3:10 PM
Subject: atw: Re: Style question: "Number" or "No."
Looks like we made need a tie-breaker, because I'm going to side with Lana on
this one. Nothing to do with what's more 'modern', however. If your
correspondence includes identifying references of any kind, there must be some
schema for assigning those references, which would either be written down
somewher or perhaps passed on by word of mouth. So if you're going to put
anything in there, you'll need to know the schema, not just that a number is
required. So including 'No.' does nothing to help you, if you're the writer. If
you're the reader, it also contributes nothing to your understanding. So why
not leave it out?
Howard
On 12 October 2010 14:24, Lana Brindley <lanabrindley@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
On 12 October 2010 14:14, Janice Gelb <janice.gelb@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
On 10/12/10 12:56, Garry Stevens wrote:
I am rewriting 450 standard letters. Lucky me. In the reference block,
I'm wondering which is the more "modern" style:
Mr Fred Nurk
12 Blah St
Sydney
Our Reference Number : 3456
Or….
Mr Fred Nurk
12 Blah St
Sydney
Our Reference No.: 3456
Or….
Our Reference: 3456
We use the "No." abbreviation only in tables where space is
at a premium. I'd go with "Number" for clarity.
-- Janice
I'm going to go against the majority, here, and pick box 3 ("Our
Reference"). Why? Well, it's shorter, and I'm all for brevity. And it still
gives all the information required: we know it's a number, as it's followed by
some. Ticks both my boxes.
L
--
Cheers! Lana
Never let your sense of morals get in the way of doing what's right.
- Isaac Asimov
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