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Re: [Patch, Fortran, committed] Fix some comment typos
Dear All,
This native English speaker is all for following Shakespeare! He is
also outraged at targeted.......
Cheers
Paul
On 30 May 2012 12:09, Tobias SchlÃter
<Tobias.Schlueter@physik.uni-muenchen.de> wrote:
> On 05/30/2012 11:17 AM, Tobias Burnus wrote:
>> Dear Dominique,
>>
>> On 05/30/2012 10:37 AM, Dominique Dhumieres wrote:
>>> While being at fixing typos in comment, could some native English
>>> speakers
>>> check the use of "can not" versus "cannot" in error messages and
>>> comments?
>>> ...
>>> If what I have retained from my learning of English at school is correct,
>>> I think all the above "can not" should be "cannot" ("peut ne pas"
>>> versus "ne peut pas" in French).
>>
>> I think either is correct, though for a consistent style, one probably
>> should change them to "cannot"; maybe we should do so for the
>> documentation (intrinsic.texi, gfc-internals.texi).
>>
>> From the linguists:
>>
>> While Marriam-Webster just states "cannot : can not", "Pocket Fowler's
>> Modern English Usage" has:
>>
>> "cannot is usually written as one word, although can not occurs from
>> time to time in letters, examination scripts, etc. The contraction can't
>> is fairly recent (around 1800) and does not occur (for example) in
>> Shakespeare. Can't is often articulated even when cannot is written."
>>
>> And the Oxford Dictionary of English (not to confuse with the O.E.D.) has:
>>
>> "cannot /'kant, ka'nt/
>> âcontraction
>> can not.
>> (USAGE: Both the one-word form cannot and the two-word form can not are
>> acceptable, but cannot is more common (in the Oxford English Corpus,
>> three times as common). The two-word form is better only in a
>> construction in which not is part of a set phrase, such as ânot only â
>> but (also)â: Paul can not only sing well, he also paints brilliantly.)"
>
> That misses one part though: there are uses of "can not" where it cannot
> be contracted. ÂNamely, when the thing that can be done is in the
> negative. ÂSay, "things can show up or they can not show up". ÂThe
> phrase, while not beautiful, no longer makes sense if you write it with
> the contraction "things can show up or they cannot show up". ÂThis is
> the same distinction Dominique pointed out in French grammar.
>
> Cehers,
> - Tobi
>
>
> --
> Tobias SchlÃter
> Am Coulombwall 1, Zi. 317
> 85748 Garching b. MÃnchen
> Tel.: +49/89/289-14157
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