Date: Thu, 6 Sep 2001 16:42:36 +0930 From: Greg Lehey <grog@FreeBSD.org> To: Ruslan Ermilov <ru@FreeBSD.org> Cc: cvs-committers@FreeBSD.org, cvs-all@FreeBSD.org Subject: Re: cvs commit: src/share/man/man9 style.9 Message-ID: <20010906164236.L24413@wantadilla.lemis.com> In-Reply-To: <20010906095146.C74323@sunbay.com>; from ru@FreeBSD.org on Thu, Sep 06, 2001 at 09:51:46AM %2B0300 References: <200109050046.f850kqZ94002@freefall.freebsd.org> <20010905143804.Q96906@sunbay.com> <20010906090555.H4447@wantadilla.lemis.com> <20010906095146.C74323@sunbay.com>
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On Thursday, 6 September 2001 at 9:51:46 +0300, Ruslan Ermilov wrote: > On Thu, Sep 06, 2001 at 09:05:55AM +0930, Greg Lehey wrote: >> On Wednesday, 5 September 2001 at 14:38:04 +0300, Ruslan Ermilov wrote: >>> On Tue, Sep 04, 2001 at 05:46:51PM -0700, Greg Lehey wrote: >>>> grog 2001/09/04 17:46:51 PDT >>>> >>>> Modified files: >>>> share/man/man9 style.9 >>>> Log: >>>> Correct (English language) style. No change in (C language) style. >>>> >>>> Revision Changes Path >>>> 1.64 +15 -15 src/share/man/man9/style.9 >>>> >>> And what was wrong with exclamation marks? >> >> They were out of place, and didn't conform with the style of the rest >> of the document. >> >> Note that in English, an imperative normally does <em>not</em> require >> a terminating exclamation mark; indeed, it's not allowed. >> >> From the Chicago Manual of Style, 14th Edition: >> >> 5.17 An exclamation point [sic] is used to mark an outcry or an >> emphatic or ironic comment. To avoid detracting from its >> effectiveness, however, the author should use this punctuation >> sparingly. >> >> 5.19 The use of an exclamation point as an editorial protest is >> strongly discouraged. >> >> From the Commonwealth of Australia Style Manual, 5th edition: >> >> 6.83 An exclamation mark should be used to indicate a high degree of >> surprise, incredulity or strong emotion. >> > From the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary: > > An exclamation mark os (US) exclamation point is used at the end > of a sentence expressing surprise, joy, anger, shock or some > other strong emotion: > > That's marvellous! > 'Never!' she cried. > > In informal written English, more than one exclamation mark, or > an exclamation mark and a question mark, may be used: > > 'Your wife's just given birth to triplets.' > 'Triplets!?' Hmm. I would have thought that !? or ?! would be strongly discouraged. > Never of the above apparently falls under those style(9) cases. Indeed. They seem to fit into 5.17 or 6.83. >> By contrast, Duden says: >> >> R28 Das Ausrufezeichen steht nach Aufforderungs- bzw. Befehlssatzen >> und nach Wunschsatzen. > > Bylo ocen% interesno uznat%, spasibo! Hmm. My Russian's terrible, and I don't understand the transliteration, but that seems to mean something like "very interesting, thanks". Correct? >> If you look at the cases in point, you'll find that both possibilities >> mentioned in Duden apply to these sentences. Neither English source >> allows an exclamation mark to terminate a sentence in imperative mood. >> > Hmm, hmm. Under the `imperative' article of the above mentioned > dictionary, I read: > > : 2 (grammar) a form of a verb that expresses a command: In ``Go away!'' > : the verb is an imperative/is in the imperative. Compare INDICATIVE 2, > : INFINITIVE, SUBJUNCTIVE. Strange. That's English, of course, for a certain definition of English, but my SOED doesn't mention the use of ! with imperatives. Unfortunately I don't have an English style guide; I'd assume that the use of ! with imperatives is allowed, and that it implies particular forcefulness: "Please go away", she said. "But we could have so much fun together!" "Go <i>away</i>!", she repeated. Greg -- See complete headers for address and phone numbers To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe cvs-all" in the body of the message
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