1

Which of the following two forms of the sentence is better?

  1. "Managers can use these findings to bound estimates, to assess the realism of road maps, to recognise unsustainable growth, to judge the health of a software development project, and to predict a system's hardware footprint."

  2. "Managers can use these findings to bound estimates, assess the realism of road maps, recognise unsustainable growth, judge the health of a software development project, and predict a system's hardware footprint."

2
  • 3
    They're both grammatical. As the sentence is quite demanding, I'd personally leave in the to's as partitioning markers. Though I'd probably go further and opt for bullet points. Jan 22, 2014 at 7:51
  • Thank you! The sentence will appear in an article's abstract, so I have to be terse and can't use bullet points. Jan 22, 2014 at 7:57

1 Answer 1

3

The second is both more terse and more flowing- if you were reading it aloud you would find that "to" is quite an abrupt word that breaks up the flow of the text. As both are quite understandable and grammatically correct, I would go for the second.

Your Answer

By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service and acknowledge you have read our privacy policy.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.