From owner-cvs-all Fri May 31 9:34:17 2002 Delivered-To: cvs-all@freebsd.org Received: from wopr.caltech.edu (wopr.caltech.edu [131.215.103.10]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 0BDC937B407; Fri, 31 May 2002 09:34:09 -0700 (PDT) Received: from wopr.caltech.edu (localhost.caltech.edu [127.0.0.1]) by wopr.caltech.edu (8.12.3/8.12.3) with ESMTP id g4VGY8Ph035280; Fri, 31 May 2002 09:34:08 -0700 (PDT) (envelope-from mph@wopr.caltech.edu) Received: (from mph@localhost) by wopr.caltech.edu (8.12.3/8.12.3/Submit) id g4VGY8rE035279; Fri, 31 May 2002 09:34:08 -0700 (PDT) Date: Fri, 31 May 2002 09:34:07 -0700 From: Matthew Hunt To: Ruslan Ermilov Cc: Archie Cobbs , cvs-committers@FreeBSD.org, cvs-all@FreeBSD.org Subject: Re: cvs commit: src/lib/libc/stdio fgets.3 Message-ID: <20020531093407.A34758@wopr.caltech.edu> References: <200205310501.g4V51Hv16477@freefall.freebsd.org> <20020531061908.GD6953@sunbay.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Disposition: inline User-Agent: Mutt/1.2.5i In-Reply-To: <20020531061908.GD6953@sunbay.com>; from ru@FreeBSD.org on Fri, May 31, 2002 at 09:19:08AM +0300 Sender: owner-cvs-all@FreeBSD.ORG Precedence: bulk List-ID: List-Archive: (Web Archive) List-Help: (List Instructions) List-Subscribe: List-Unsubscribe: X-Loop: FreeBSD.ORG On Fri, May 31, 2002 at 09:19:08AM +0300, Ruslan Ermilov wrote: > I think both are acceptable, "contents" is only _usually_ in the > plural context, according to www.m-w.com. More of "contents is": > > gnu/usr.bin/tar/tar.1:files are listed, otherwise the entire table of > contents is listed. "Table of contents" is definitely singular; "of contents" just modifies the singular noun "table." > lib/libc/stdtime/strftime.3:Otherwise, zero is returned and the buffer > contents is indeterminate. > share/man/man8/picobsd.8:whose contents is generally very short and > suitable for this These seem unnatural to me. The OED indicates that one definition of content(s), "The sum or substance of what is contained in a document," can be used in the plural constructed as singular, but that this usage is obsolete. The provided example is from 1654: "This ensuing Letter, whose Address was as strange to him, as the Contents was to us." -- Matthew Hunt * Clearly there are more things in the http://www.pobox.com/~mph/ * heavens than anyone anticipated. -enp To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe cvs-all" in the body of the message