Re: Follett followed

["N. Sivin" nsivin@xxxxxxxx]

Michael Norman asks "Is there a way to pull from the
XyArchives only those posts that will help me install XyDos4
on a new machine with W98?" I would suggest searching for
"Win98" and variants thereof. I don't think there has been
much.
As a non-user of Win98, I would suggest the following
two steps:

1. Check a good, comprehensive book on Win98 about the
principles of installing DOS programs. The manual that comes
with the OS, I am sure, will not qualify.

2. Install in DOS mode (not in a DOS window), making sure
that
it does not load a batch file when booting. If necessary,
rename your AUTOEXEC.BAT and CONFIG.SYS temporarily. XY
tends to balk if
any TSR is running, and if peripheral hardware (e.g.,
CD-ROM) is installed. Normally DOS mode does not install
any but rudimentary hardware.

As for Follett, what I have found to be the best of the more
advanced books is Joseph Williams' _Style: Toward Clarity
and Grace._ It is a considerable improvement in three
respects:

It concentrates on analyzing writing from the reader's, not
the writer's, point of view. Most people learning to do
serious writing (e.g., graduate students beginning
dissertations) have no idea of the difference. Williams
approaches it in a sophisticated way.

The book goes beyond words and sentence structure to take up
how to shape a paragraph, and again is not at all
simple-minded about it.

It has a good chapter on spurious rules of diction and
grammar. It points out that many "errors" have actually been
standard usage of first-rate authors, sometimes for
centuries, or are based on fallacious reasoning. This helped
me to narrow down in teaching to the real errors. I dislike
"hopefully" for "I hope," but Williams convinced me that I
can't impose this preference on others.

Cheers,
--
Nathan Sivin
History and Sociology of Science
University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia PA 19104-6304
(215) 898-7454
nsivin@xxxxxxxx