Take care

Posted by TheFallen April 03, 2002In reply to Take care posted by K. Yone on April 03, 2002

Hi!

Can I use 'take care' when I create a techinical writing such as the following.

'Take care not touch the region coated with hydroxyapatite.'

Does 'Take care' sound informal and unnatural for this type of wrting?

Thank you for your help.

Best wishes,

K. Yone

It doesn't sound particularly unnatural to me (the correct usage would actually be "Take care not *to* touch the region...").

However, if you want to be definitely formal, you might want to consider using the imperative phrase "Avoid touching the region...". A lot of technical instructions tend to be quite abrupt and impersonal, and this would then fit in with that style.