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From: Andy Parkins <andyparkins@gmail.com>
To: git@vger.kernel.org
Cc: Junio C Hamano <junkio@cox.net>, "Mike Coleman" <tutufan@gmail.com>
Subject: Re: [PATCH] fix some doc typos and grammar
Date: Fri, 2 Feb 2007 09:49:08 +0000	[thread overview]
Message-ID: <200702020949.09655.andyparkins@gmail.com> (raw)
In-Reply-To: <7vmz3xjbxv.fsf@assigned-by-dhcp.cox.net>

On Friday 2007 February 02 06:44, Junio C Hamano wrote:

> Ah, "which or that", very funny.  At work today I was working
> with somebody you know (AB) on a document, and he was fixing my
> that to which.  Now you are fixing my which to that.

In case anyone is interested; a handy rule of thumb (i.e. it isn't always 
true, but will hold you in good stead) is that "which" should be preceded by 
a comma and "that" should not.  If you write a sentence that requires the 
comma, then it's "which"; if it requires not having a comma, then 
it's "that".

e.g. 

"git is a version control system, which is a piece of software used for 
tracking changes to files over time"

"git is a version control system that has a fanatical following of users who 
will kill anyone who asks for rename support"

In the first case the "which" describes what a version control system is.  In 
the second, the "that" describes what git is.


Andy
-- 
Dr Andy Parkins, M Eng (hons), MIEE
andyparkins@gmail.com

      parent reply	other threads:[~2007-02-02  9:49 UTC|newest]

Thread overview: 6+ messages / expand[flat|nested]  mbox.gz  Atom feed  top
2007-02-02  6:25 [PATCH] fix some doc typos and grammar Mike Coleman
2007-02-02  6:44 ` Junio C Hamano
2007-02-02  7:26   ` Mike Coleman
2007-02-02 11:28     ` Jakub Narebski
2007-02-02 11:43       ` How to configure your MTA [Was: [PATCH] fix some doc typos and grammar] Uwe Kleine-König
2007-02-02  9:49   ` Andy Parkins [this message]

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