Skip site navigation (1)Skip section navigation (2)
Date:      Sat, 18 Apr 1998 09:13:10 +0200
From:      Poul-Henning Kamp <phk@critter.freebsd.dk>
To:        jak@cetlink.net (John Kelly)
Cc:        Peter Wemm <peter@netplex.com.au>, "Dag-Erling C. Sm\xf8rgrav" <des@FreeBSD.ORG>, cvs-committers@FreeBSD.ORG, cvs-all@FreeBSD.ORG, cvs-sys@FreeBSD.ORG
Subject:   Re: Correct English style 
Message-ID:  <9104.892883590@critter.freebsd.dk>
In-Reply-To: Your message of "Sat, 18 Apr 1998 04:56:28 GMT." <35382ed1.10137219@mail.cetlink.net> 

next in thread | previous in thread | raw e-mail | index | archive | help
In message <35382ed1.10137219@mail.cetlink.net>, John Kelly writes:
>On Sat, 18 Apr 1998 12:11:20 +0800, Peter Wemm <peter@netplex.com.au>
>wrote:
>
>>I don't call this "fixing typos", as far as I can tell, 
>>most of these changes have broken the correct usage.
>
>The changes are correct.
>
>>eg:  here, we are talking about the device's softc:
>
>>- * return the pointer to it's softc structure
>>+ * return the pointer to its softc structure
>
>An apostrophe is used to indicate the possessive case (as in Peter's
>computer) except in the special case of the word "its."  In this
>special case, it's (with the apostrophe) is a contraction of "it is"
>while its (without the apostrophe) is the possessive adjective.  The
>committer is correct.  Consult a dictionary or manual of style.

Search /usr/src/games/fortune/datfiles/fortunes for 

	Tips for Writer's

for some good introductory material to current usage :-)

--
Poul-Henning Kamp             FreeBSD coreteam member
phk@FreeBSD.ORG               "Real hackers run -current on their laptop."
"Drink MONO-tonic, it goes down but it will NEVER come back up!"



Want to link to this message? Use this URL: <https://mail-archive.FreeBSD.org/cgi/mid.cgi?9104.892883590>