1. Kristine Wagner – English 572 – Redish, Chapter 10
Q) Redish strongly recommends framing headings as questions.
●This approach agrees with the reader-centric point of view that she advocates.
●It seems to be her default position in the absence of other, more suitable alternatives
(action phrases, noun headings).
●These questions are in the first person (I) or third person when the question doesn't
directly involve the reader.
●
Example A: How do I open a bank account? (first person)
●
Example B: Are giant pandas bears? (third person)
A) The web site then answers the reader with the appropriate second-person or third-person
answer and elaborates the answer further.
●
Example A: You walk into any of our 12 bank branches and talk with an account representative.
(second person)
●
Example B: Yes, they are bears, but they belong to a different sub-species than brown bears and
grizzly bears. (third person)
Expansion question: Does Redish's approach “translate” to headings in other languages?
●
I did a search on the German construct “Wie mache ich” (how do I make), and found most of the
contexts had to do with children.
● Action word phrases using the “-ing” ending have no direct equivalent in German. The German
equivalent is an infinite phrase that sounds much more impersonal and commanding.