Re: Cannot

On 10/26/2011 05:15 PM, David E. Wheeler wrote:
> On Oct 26, 2011, at 2:06 PM, Andrew Dunstan wrote:
>
>>> Suggested doc “patch”:
>>>
>>>      grep -lri 'can not' doc | xargs perl -i -pe 's/can not/cannot/g'
>> Why? "can not" is perfectly grammatical AFAIK.
> True, but there's a logic issue. Take this example from doc/src/sgml/func.sgml:
>
>>     <para>
>>       <function>pg_advisory_xact_lock</>  works the same as
>>       <function>pg_advisory_lock</>, expect the lock is automatically released
>>       at the end of the current transaction and can not be released explicitly.
>>      </para>
> I read this as equivalent to "can be not released." Which of course is silly, so as I read it I realize what it
means,but it trips up my overly logical brain. It interrupts the flow. There is no such confusion in "cannot be
released"and thus no tripping up on meaning.
 
>
>

Here's what I would do:

1. s/expect/except that/

2. s/can not be released explicitly/can not be explicitly released/

cheers

andrew