From: gillian@n33.gmd.de (Gillian Black)
Subject: Help: problematic, self-evident, object and more
Summary: Help needed editing a book.
Keywords: problematic,abstract,self-evident,object,adaptability
Organization: GMD, Sankt Augustin, Germany
Date: Thu, 19 Nov 1992 15:09:04 GMT


Background:  
    I am in Germany editing a book written in English by Germans.
    A few questions have come up to which I have been unable to
    find satisfactory answers.  Part of the problem may be that I
    have been reading the book for so long that I no longer can 
    look at it from a fresh viewpoint: some things I know are wrong
    have started to sound correct.
    
    Any and all suggestions are welcome!  Please email.

"self-evidence"
    I need a *noun* meaning the quality of being self-evident (not
    necessarily always positive).  Maybe there isn't one, and I
    need to just rephrase, but it's also used as a criteria or
    category.  The context is adaptable features: how self-evident
    are the effects of a function, before and after use, and the
    use of the function itself.  I'm not satisfied with visibility,
    transparency, or obviousness.

problematic
    Germans use the word "problematisch" as an "ordinary" word
    in speech to mean difficult, or a problem.  As in, say you
    want to borrow money from me, and there's some complicated
    reason why you can't, I'd say "well, that's kind of difficult",
    or "that's a bit of a problem", but in German they'd say
    Das ist problematisch.  Or, from the book:

    "Deterministic adaptations of the application are considered to
    be problematic."

    "This perspective, which is geared to the individual workplace,
    became problematical as workplace computers were increasingly
    linked up."

    O.K., this is not wrong, because my dictionary defines it
    as "having the nature of a problem".  However, it also means
    "not settled; yet to be determined; uncertain".  This is the
    use I am with which I am familiar.  So, if you also find
    the other uses hard on the ear, what rephrasing or other
    word do you suggest?

    Actually, I guess in my mind these two definitions have combined
    to mean "not certain because there are problems".  Collins "Helping
    Learners with Real English" defines it to be "full of problems
    and difficulties, and therefore complicated to think about".

adaptability/adaptivity
    It's probably too late for this one, because it's already
    starting to appear in the literature.  In German it is
    easy to make the distinction between "can be adapted" and
    "can adapt", but according to my dictionary these words
    have the same meaning.  At the moment "adaptability" is
    being used to mean "can be adapted", and adaptivity to mean
    the quality of being "self-adapting".  This is a big
    part of this book, so this is not a minor issue.  Both
    adaptability and adaptivity fall into the category of
    "flexible" systems, in this book.  I'm not satisfied with
    any of these terms, I'd prefer that the meta-category be
    adaptability, not flexibility or, yuch, individualizability,
    and then I need two more words *under* adaptability, possibly
    "self-adapting" and something else.

    Example:  some word processing systems allow you to change
    the menus, that is they are adaptable.  On the other hand,
    some help systems try to gear the help given to the apparent
    experience level of the user, ie: they are adaptive.

in abstraction from, meaning removed from
    I know that abstract can mean to take something away, and
    abstracted also has the definition removed or separated, but
    is it correct to say something like:

    It is difficult to consider these qualities in abstraction
    from specific situations.

    or

    ... and the development of standard systems that support a
    number of tasks, but in so doing have to abstract from the
    concrete features of a task.

    
object
    Used to mean objective or goal.  According to my dictionary
    this is correct, but to me it sounds funny.  Is this a good
    up-to-date use of this word?  eg: "We had two main objects
    at the start of the project..."

like vs. such as
    Another one that *sounds* clumsy to my reading ear but is
    correct is the use of "like" to introduce example(s).
    
    My feelings on this one do not appear to be completely consistent,
    because it does sound all right to me in the sentence: "or else
    motivational factors like the wish 'to get something done, rather
    than learn about the system' must be contributing."

    "fruit like apples and pears" sounds OK, too.

    but not "user characteristics like degree of expertise"
    "user characteristics such as degree of expertise", sounds
    better to me.
    

among vs. between

    Lots has been said on this topic, I still don't get it.

    The study found considerable differences among user preferences.
    The study found considerable differences between user preferences
    The study found considerable differences in user preferences

    Also:  A study of user models distinguishes (?) the following.

trigger
    Not really a usage question, but while I'm here, what
    is the general word for a trigger/response pair?  ie:
    what is the word for the concept?  I think I always
    just say "trigger" but that's really just the event.


					Many thanks.
					Gillian

				gillian@hera.gmd.de

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