Language question

Language question

[Carsten Dominik]

Hi,

this is a question to the native English speakers out there.

If I write in the documentation

    "Cross referencing with unique IDs is hard to document"

do I then write

     ids
     IDs
     id's
or  ID's

????

Thanks.

- Carsten

Re: Language question

[Bernt Hansen]

Carsten Dominik <carsten.dominik@gmail.com> writes:

> this is a question to the native English speakers out there.
>
> If I write in the documentation
>
>    "Cross referencing with unique IDs is hard to document"
>
> do I then write
>
>     ids
>     IDs
>     id's
> or  ID's
>

IDs or ids is fine.  id's and ID's is possessive (the ID owns
something).

I'd probably use IDs in this case.

id is just short for identifier normally so 
... unique identifiers is hard ...
would also be fine.

HTH,
Bernt

Re: Re: Language question

[Ian Barton]

>> If I write in the documentation
>>
>>    "Cross referencing with unique IDs is hard to document"
>>
>> do I then write
>>
>>     ids
>>     IDs
>>     id's
>> or  ID's
>>
> 
> IDs or ids is fine.  id's and ID's is possessive (the ID owns
> something).
> 
> I'd probably use IDs in this case.
> 
> id is just short for identifier normally so 
> ... unique identifiers is hard ...
> would also be fine.
> 

I would suggest calling it a UID. As Bernt said using an apostrophe is 
incorrect in this case. I would also suggest doing it like this:

"Cross referencing with unique IDs (UID) is hard to document"

I was always taught that you place the abbreviation in brackets after 
its definition, so the reader can easily find where it's defined.

Ian.

OT: Re: Re: Language question

[Carsten Dominik]

Hi Bernt,

thanks for the quick answer.  It is amazing how different these
things are in different languages.  My life is in 3 languages,
English, German, and Dutch, almost evenly spread between the three.

In German, you put the ' only if you are actually
omitting a letter, like in the English "let's".  If it is possessive,
you actually explicitly don't put it.

For English you explained it.

In Dutch, it is a pure pronunciation issue (if I did understand
this correctly).  There you only put the ' if the connected "s"
would spoil the correct pronunciation of the word.

May be Esperanto was not such a bad idea after all........

Many greetings from Babylon.

- Carsten

On Dec 10, 2008, at 4:36 PM, Bernt Hansen wrote:

> Carsten Dominik <carsten.dominik@gmail.com> writes:
>
>> this is a question to the native English speakers out there.
>>
>> If I write in the documentation
>>
>>   "Cross referencing with unique IDs is hard to document"
>>
>> do I then write
>>
>>    ids
>>    IDs
>>    id's
>> or  ID's
>>
>
> IDs or ids is fine.  id's and ID's is possessive (the ID owns
> something).
>
> I'd probably use IDs in this case.
>
> id is just short for identifier normally so
> ... unique identifiers is hard ...
> would also be fine.
>
> HTH,
> Bernt
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Emacs-orgmode mailing list
> Remember: use `Reply All' to send replies to the list.
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Re: Language question

[Matthew Lundin]

Hi Carsten,

"IDs" is correct. 

Some older manuals of style suggest using "ID's", but "IDs" is the
most widely accepted plural form of the abbreviation.

Matt

Carsten Dominik <carsten.dominik@gmail.com> writes:

> Hi,
>
> this is a question to the native English speakers out there.
>
> If I write in the documentation
>
>    "Cross referencing with unique IDs is hard to document"
>
> do I then write
>
>     ids
>     IDs
>     id's
> or  ID's
>
> ????
>
> Thanks.
>
> - Carsten
>
>
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Emacs-orgmode mailing list
> Remember: use `Reply All' to send replies to the list.
> Emacs-orgmode@gnu.org
> http://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/emacs-orgmode

RE: Language question

[Womick, Don]

's always indicates possession, never plurality.

I don't think there's a hard-and-fast choice between "IDs" and "ids",
but "IDs" looks better to me, since it's clear that you're using an
abbreviation. But if you write "id" (singular), be consistent and write
"ids" (plural).

-----Original Message-----
From: emacs-orgmode-bounces+don.womick=cingular.com@gnu.org
[mailto:emacs-orgmode-bounces+don.womick=cingular.com@gnu.org] On Behalf
Of Carsten Dominik
Sent: Wednesday, December 10, 2008 10:18 AM
To: emacs org-mode mailing list
Subject: [Orgmode] Language question

Hi,

this is a question to the native English speakers out there.

If I write in the documentation

    "Cross referencing with unique IDs is hard to document"

do I then write

     ids
     IDs
     id's
or  ID's

????

Thanks.

- Carsten





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Emacs-orgmode mailing list
Remember: use `Reply All' to send replies to the list.
Emacs-orgmode@gnu.org
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Re: Language question

[Peter Frings]

On 10 Dec 2008, at 17:13, Womick, Don wrote:

> 's always indicates possession, never plurality.
>
> I don't think there's a hard-and-fast choice between "IDs" and "ids",
> but "IDs" looks better to me, since it's clear that you're using an
> abbreviation. But if you write "id" (singular), be consistent and  
> write
> "ids" (plural).

I'm not a native English speaker, but since the Chicago Manual of  
Style is within reach...

About the plural:
<quote>
* Letters, nouns coinages, numbers: So far as it can be done without  
confusion, single or multiple letters used as words, hyphenated  
coinages used as nouns, and numbers (wether spelled out or in figures)  
firm the plural by adding s alone:

the three Rs
YMCAs
...

* Abbreviations with periods, lowercase letters used as nouns, and  
capital letters that would be confusing if /s/ alone were added form  
the plural with an apostrohpe and an s:

Ph.D's
x's and y's
SOS's
...
</quote>

About the capitalization:
I can't find it right now (might have read it somewhere else), but I  
think the rule is rather simple:

Acronyms should be written in uppercase when they are spelled out in  
speech, e.g. ID (Ey-Dee). When they're being used as words, they're  
written in lowercase, e.g., 'radar'.


Combining the two, I think it's "IDs".

Cheers,
Peter.

Re: Language question

[Carsten Dominik]

Wow,

I am blown away by the flood of answers with various degrees of  
explanations.

Thank you all very much.

- Carsten

On Dec 10, 2008, at 6:05 PM, Peter Frings wrote:

>
> On 10 Dec 2008, at 17:13, Womick, Don wrote:
>
>> 's always indicates possession, never plurality.
>>
>> I don't think there's a hard-and-fast choice between "IDs" and "ids",
>> but "IDs" looks better to me, since it's clear that you're using an
>> abbreviation. But if you write "id" (singular), be consistent and  
>> write
>> "ids" (plural).
>
> I'm not a native English speaker, but since the Chicago Manual of  
> Style is within reach...
>
> About the plural:
> <quote>
> * Letters, nouns coinages, numbers: So far as it can be done without  
> confusion, single or multiple letters used as words, hyphenated  
> coinages used as nouns, and numbers (wether spelled out or in  
> figures) firm the plural by adding s alone:
>
> the three Rs
> YMCAs
> ...
>
> * Abbreviations with periods, lowercase letters used as nouns, and  
> capital letters that would be confusing if /s/ alone were added form  
> the plural with an apostrohpe and an s:
>
> Ph.D's
> x's and y's
> SOS's
> ...
> </quote>
>
> About the capitalization:
> I can't find it right now (might have read it somewhere else), but I  
> think the rule is rather simple:
>
> Acronyms should be written in uppercase when they are spelled out in  
> speech, e.g. ID (Ey-Dee). When they're being used as words, they're  
> written in lowercase, e.g., 'radar'.
>
>
> Combining the two, I think it's "IDs".
>
> Cheers,
> Peter.
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Emacs-orgmode mailing list
> Remember: use `Reply All' to send replies to the list.
> Emacs-orgmode@gnu.org
> http://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/emacs-orgmode

Re: Language question

[Samuel Wales]

Hi Carsten,

If you write "IDs", it is correct.  Please do not be misled by my
having written "org-id's".  "ID's" used to be correct, but no longer.
I was treating org-id as a variable, and org-ids would have been
confusing.  I often type in lowercase and then capitalize sentences
before sending.  The apostrophe was a fast way of disambiguating.