The Global English style guide: a review

Review by Mike Unwalla.

John R Kohl, 2008. The Global English style guide: writing clear, translatable documentation for a global market. Cary, NC: SAS Institute Inc. ISBN 978-1-59994-657-3.

Many people who do not speak English as a first language struggle to understand English texts. Human translation is expensive. Machine translation (MT) frequently does not give good translations. Global English offers a solution to these three related problems.

Many good style guides exist. Why do technical writers need another style guide? Unlike other style guides, this book covers grammatical structures, not only particular terms. The book has more than 200 pages of text (plus 4 appendices) that give detailed explanations of both good practice and bad practice.

Kohl writes clearly, and he explains the reasons for the guidelines. The book is not an academic paper. The guidelines are based on practical work at SAS Institute, where Kohl works.

Most technical writers know some of the guidelines. For example, restrict the use of the passive voice, use language literally, and simplify the writing style. However, many guidelines will be new to some technical writers.

Usually, a conjunctive adverb can be in many locations in a sentence:

However, you can put an adverb in many locations.
You can, however, put an adverb in many locations.
You can put an adverb in many locations, however.

A conjunctive adverb helps to show a reader the logical connection with the previous sentence. Therefore, put a conjunctive adverb at the start of a sentence.

Both of the following sentences are grammatically correct:

Set up the system.
Set the system up.

Kohl explains that to increase consistency, to improve machine translation, and to help non-native speakers who do not know a particular verb, it is better to keep the parts of the verb together.

A full chapter and an appendix show how to improve readability and translatability by using syntactic cues. A syntactic cue is a part of language that helps a reader to identify parts of speech and to analyse the structure of a sentence. Sometimes, syntactic cues are optional, but excluding syntactic cues can cause ambiguity. Kohl gives a humorous example. The grammatically correct sentence, "Do not dip your bread or roll in your soup" has two interpretations:

Do not dip your bread or your roll in your soup.
Do not dip your bread in your soup, and do not roll in your soup.

If readers are aware of the second interpretation, they know that it is incorrect. However, with technical texts, if a writer does not include optional syntactic cues, a reader's interpretation is possibly incorrect.

With Global English, a writer can use all grammatical structures and all terms, unless the guidelines prohibit the grammar or the term. Additionally, the primary rule of Global English is, 'do not make any change that will sound unnatural to native speakers of English.' An alternative method for writing clear text is to use a controlled language. With a controlled language, a writer can use only grammar and terms that are permitted. Despite the different methods, many of the Global English guidelines agree with controlled language guidelines.

The subtitle of the book refers to writing documentation. However, most of the guidelines apply to copywriting as much as to technical writing. All writers who want to reach a global audience, to decrease translation costs, or to make their texts as clear as possible will benefit highly from this book.

To read the table of contents and the first chapter of the book, see www.globalenglishstyle.com.