Re: Oughtification of Section 5

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From: Charles Lindsey (chl@clw.cs.man.ac.uk)
Date: Thu Jan 11 2001 - 07:48:02 CST


In <200101110051.TAA14460@darkstar.prodigy.com> davidsen@prodigy.com (Bill Davidsen) writes:

>> 5.5. Newsgroups
>>
>> The Newsgroups header's content specifies which newsgroup(s) the
>> article is posted to. It is an inheritable header (4.2.2.2) which
>> SHOULD then become the default Newsgroups header of any followup,
>> unless a Followup-To header is present to prescribe otherwise.
>> [Y3 I hope nobody want to put any Oughts in there.]

> Since this RFC is written in English, let's not needlessly write it
>in BAD English. The first sentence can more correctly be written: "The
>Newsgroups header's content specifies newsgroup(s) in which the post is
>intended to appear." In addition to not splitting the infintive, it
>pays lip service to the truth that not al groups are on every server.
>Feel free to say "to which the article is posted" if the intended
>bothers people.

It is not a split infinitive, but it is an example of "A preposition is a
bad word to end a sentence with."

Your text adopted (more or less, including "intended"):

The Newsgroups header's content specifies the newsgroup(s)
in which the article is intended to appear. ...

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Charles H. Lindsey ---------At Home, doing my own thing------------------------
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