From owner-cvs-all Sat Apr 18 00:14:52 1998 Return-Path: Received: (from majordom@localhost) by hub.freebsd.org (8.8.8/8.8.8) id AAA16064 for cvs-all-outgoing; Sat, 18 Apr 1998 00:14:52 -0700 (PDT) (envelope-from owner-cvs-all@FreeBSD.ORG) Received: from critter.freebsd.dk (critter.freebsd.dk [195.8.129.14]) by hub.freebsd.org (8.8.8/8.8.8) with ESMTP id HAA16051; Sat, 18 Apr 1998 07:14:32 GMT (envelope-from phk@critter.freebsd.dk) Received: from critter.freebsd.dk (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by critter.freebsd.dk (8.8.7/8.8.5) with ESMTP id JAA09106; Sat, 18 Apr 1998 09:13:10 +0200 (CEST) To: jak@cetlink.net (John Kelly) cc: Peter Wemm , "Dag-Erling C. Sm\xf8rgrav" , cvs-committers@FreeBSD.ORG, cvs-all@FreeBSD.ORG, cvs-sys@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: Correct English style In-reply-to: Your message of "Sat, 18 Apr 1998 04:56:28 GMT." <35382ed1.10137219@mail.cetlink.net> Date: Sat, 18 Apr 1998 09:13:10 +0200 Message-ID: <9104.892883590@critter.freebsd.dk> From: Poul-Henning Kamp Sender: owner-cvs-all@FreeBSD.ORG Precedence: bulk In message <35382ed1.10137219@mail.cetlink.net>, John Kelly writes: >On Sat, 18 Apr 1998 12:11:20 +0800, Peter Wemm >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!" To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe cvs-all" in the body of the message