Re: Proofread request for patch which fixes a/an errors
On Sat, Dec 04, 2004 at 11:16:32PM +0100, Jens Seidel wrote:
> Hi all,
>
> I checked the website for errors related to the indefinite articles "a"
> and "an".
> As usual I found again many errors and need your approval before I apply
> this patch. I will not commit it when I get no OK!
>
> A short summary of this rule can be found on
> http://www.fortunecity.com/bally/durrus/153/gramch14.html#2
Use "a" if the words pronunciation starts with a consonant sound, "an"
if it starts with a vowel sound.
> Nevertheless this article doesn't answer all my questions:
>
> Please check the following:
>
> A or an FTP|URL|HTML|LDAP? (Both versions are used regularly)
Since are pronounced by spelling out at least the initial letter
(e.g., "an eff-tee-pee site"), "FTP", "HTML", and "LDAP" should be
preceded by "an" and "URL" should be preceded by "a".
> Why is "an SSH (key|...)" used so often and not "a SSH"?
See above.
> Please note that I also attached files "a" and "an" which contain
> the grep output of phrases containing a resp. an where I'm not sure and
> which contain probably many errors too.
The above rule should cover all cases.
--
Matt
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