Subject: Re: [xsl] A linguistic question: a/an fo:block From: JBryant@xxxxxxxxx Date: Fri, 24 Jun 2005 09:25:42 -0500 |
Hi, Peter, Amongst my other sins, I used to teach English at a university, so I can tell you the rules that governs this issue. If the first sound of the pronounced form of the word is a consonant, use "a". If the first sound of the pronounced form of the word is a vowel, use "an". Thus, you should type "a unique widget" and "an utter disaster". In the case of all the FO elements, I've heard people pronounce it as two separate syllables (often the case with acronyms) and as one word (like the English word "foe"). In the first case, you'd type "an FO element". In the second case, you'd type "a FO element". (I bet that's the source of the inconsistency in the spec.) Personally, I am accustomed to sounding out acronyms, because so many of them cannot be pronounced as words. Consider XML, XSLT, HTML, and so on. So, my answer to your question would be "an fo:block". Jay Bryant Bryant Communication Services (presently consulting at Synergistic Solution Technologies) Peter Gerstbach <peter.gerstbach@xxxxxxx> 06/24/2005 02:55 AM Please respond to xsl-list@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx To xsl-list@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx cc Subject [xsl] A linguistic question: a/an fo:block Hello, should I write "a fo:block" or "an fo:block"? I am not a native speaker, so this is not clear for me. I think it depends on whether I spell "fo" or read it as a word. Interestingly, the W3C specification is inconsistent with this. Thanks, Peter
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