Date: Fri, 31 May 2002 09:34:07 -0700 From: Matthew Hunt <mph@astro.caltech.edu> To: Ruslan Ermilov <ru@FreeBSD.org> Cc: Archie Cobbs <archie@FreeBSD.org>, 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> In-Reply-To: <20020531061908.GD6953@sunbay.com>; from ru@FreeBSD.org on Fri, May 31, 2002 at 09:19:08AM %2B0300 References: <200205310501.g4V51Hv16477@freefall.freebsd.org> <20020531061908.GD6953@sunbay.com>
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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substance of what is contained in a document," can be used in the plural constructed as singular, but that this usage is obsolete.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 <mph@astro.caltech.edu> * 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
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