FS#64070 - [grub] - please use proper English - "to set" wrong - "setting" correct
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Arch Linux
Opened by James (thx1138) - Wednesday, 09 October 2019, 15:36 GMT
Last edited by Christian Hesse (eworm) - Tuesday, 05 November 2019, 09:10 GMT
Opened by James (thx1138) - Wednesday, 09 October 2019, 15:36 GMT
Last edited by Christian Hesse (eworm) - Tuesday, 05 November 2019, 09:10 GMT
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Details
grub 2:2.04-2
/etc/default/grub I don't know what it is about "German English", but please use some version of "English English" in the Arch documents and files. Wrong: ==== # Uncomment to make GRUB remember the last selection. This requires to # set 'GRUB_DEFAULT=saved' above. #GRUB_SAVEDEFAULT="true" ==== Please, just don't do that. This should instead be: ==== # Uncomment to make GRUB remember the last selection. This requires # setting 'GRUB_DEFAULT=saved' above. #GRUB_SAVEDEFAULT="true" ==== You can save the world from much "wincing", from something not entirely unlike the sound of fingernails scraping a chalk board, by using the English language properly. Thanks |
This task depends upon
Closed by Christian Hesse (eworm)
Tuesday, 05 November 2019, 09:10 GMT
Reason for closing: Fixed
Additional comments about closing: grub 2:2.04-3
Tuesday, 05 November 2019, 09:10 GMT
Reason for closing: Fixed
Additional comments about closing: grub 2:2.04-3
(Proof: I'm not wincing, because despite being from the USA I don't find this bothersome.)
...
Also just to be controversial I propose changing this to:
# Uncomment to make GRUB remember the last selection. This requires one to
# set 'GRUB_DEFAULT=saved' above.
Rationale: "setting" is inconsistent with "Uncomment", "preload", etc. so we don't want to change some German English to more German English.
We could even say:
# Uncomment to make GRUB remember the last selection. This depends on the
# 'GRUB_DEFAULT=saved' value above.
"this expression" is the object of the sentence, and the implicit topic of the statement.
"to make GRUB remember the last selection" is an adjectival phrase being applied to the object "this expression".
"This expression also requires you to set 'GRUB_DEFAULT=saved' above."
"This expression" is the subject of the sentence. "you" is the object of the sentence, but *not* the implicit topic of the statement.
"to set 'GRUB_DEFAULT=saved' above" is an adjectival phrase being applied to the object "you".
The object "you" is not material to the topic under discussion. Introducing the reader of the documentation, either as "you" or "one", as a direct topic of discussion only serves to obfuscate the actual topic, that of "setting 'GRUB_DEFAULT=saved' above".
Gerunds are verbals that end in -ing and function as nouns.
Participles are verbals that function as adjectives.
"This expression also requires setting 'GRUB_DEFAULT=saved' above."
"setting 'GRUB_DEFAULT=saved' above" is a noun phrase and the object of the verb "requires". "You" is not here introduced as a topic under discussion.
"Uncommenting the following expression will make GRUB remember the last selection, but only if 'GRUB_DEFAULT=saved' is also set, above."
"Uncommenting" is a gerund, and a noun, and the subject of the sentence, and the material topic under discussion.
"setting" is a gerund.
Some verbs take a gerund as an object. Other verbs take an infinitive as an object. Some verbs may take either a gerund or an infinitive, though the meaning will be subtly different in each case. There is no simple rule for this convention. Nonetheless, getting it wrong, is wrong. It is also annoying to English speakers.