Date: Tue, 13 Sep 2005 17:47:43 -0400 From: John Baldwin <jhb@FreeBSD.org> To: Gary W.@ Swearingen <garys@opusnet.com> Cc: doc-committers@FreeBSD.org, cvs-doc@FreeBSD.org, cvs-all@FreeBSD.org, Kevin Oberman <oberman@es.net> Subject: Re: cvs commit: doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/handbook/boot chapter.sgml Message-ID: <200509131747.45458.jhb@FreeBSD.org> In-Reply-To: <qgzmqgk5ym.mqg@mail.opusnet.com> References: <20050913184952.C50B15D07@ptavv.es.net> <qgzmqgk5ym.mqg@mail.opusnet.com>
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On Tuesday 13 September 2005 05:34 pm, Gary W. Swearingen wrote: > "Kevin Oberman" <oberman@es.net> writes: > >> From: garys@opusnet.com (Gary W. Swearingen) > >> AFAIK, that is an permissible English abbreviation of this: > >> > >> The MBR installed by FreeBSD's installer and > >> the MBR installed by boot0cfg(8) are ... > >> > >> ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^-------(implied) > >> > >> The second "by" in my sentence is the clue that I've omitted the > >> second "the MBR installed" so as to not repeat it. > > > > Th 'by' is a preposition. The prepositional phrase does not impact the > > issue of the subject being singular or plural. > > ... > > > The example you gave is not valid because it is only grammatically > > correct when there are two MBRs. One MBR - singular verb. > > There should be two MBRs in the reader's grammar processor, if not in > the text; one of them is implied (by the second "by", regardless of > what other purpose it serves in the sentence). Not in the English I know. :) > But I'm now out-voted. Try this: > > The MBR installed by FreeBSD's installer or boot0cfg(8) is ... > > which is better anyway. Yes, that does work better. -- John Baldwin <jhb@FreeBSD.org> <>< http://www.FreeBSD.org/~jhb/ "Power Users Use the Power to Serve" = http://www.FreeBSD.org
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