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That's like campaigning to eliminate pronouns. "Former" and "latter" are just like "it", except they are for when you mentioned two things. Repeating the prope
by haberman 13y ago
That's like campaigning to eliminate pronouns. "Former" and "latter" are just like "it", except they are for when you mentioned two things.
Repeating the proper noun doesn't achieve the goal of emphasizing the fact that you're referring to something you just mentioned.
- nkurz 13y agoPronouns are fine. Substituting 'the first' and 'the second' would be an improvement. It's specifically 'former' and 'latter' that should be deprecated. I'd be interested in seeing a study comparing readers' comprehensions of the various phrasings. What cost in clarity would you be willing to pay?