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