[GRASS-dev] Re: [GRASS-CVS] carlos: grass6/raster/r.his main.c, 2.6, 2.7

[Carlos Dávila]

Martin Landa escribió:
> Ciao Carlos,
>
> I am not sure too (it is the question for native speakers...)
>
> http://www.nabble.com/message-standardization-on-wiki-tf3559274.html#a9939189 
>
>
> "Cannot open raster map" X "Unable to open raster map"
>
> Martin
OK, now I see. I'm afraid we have a contradiction in wiki, as in 
"Standard messages sandbox > Raster messages" we have "Cannot open 
raster map <%s>" and in "Messages discussion > G_open_cell_old" proposed 
standard response is "Unable open raster map <%s>", so we have to choose.
Any help from native speakers is welcome.
Regards
Carlos
>
>
>
> 2007/7/6, Carlos Dávila <cdavilam at jemila.jazztel.es>:
>>
>>  Martin Landa escribió:
>> Hi,
>>
>>  just a stupid note
>>
>>
>> -               G_fatal_error(_("Unable to open raster map [%s]"), 
>> name_h);
>>  +               G_fatal_error(_("Unable to open raster map <%s>"), 
>> name_h);
>>
>>  wouldn't be better to use "Cannot open raster map <%s>"?, see wiki and
>>  discussion in grass-dev mailing list...
>>  For sure I may be wrong, but I've been revising wiki and lists (dev and
>> translations) and I can't see where it is suggested to use cannot 
>> instead of
>> unable to.
>>  What I found is:
>>  >From wiki
>>
>>  Standard messages sandbox
>>
>>  First letter should be capitalized
>>  Use the present tense (cannot instead of could not; better: unable 
>> to) ...
>>
>>
>>  G_open_cell_old "Unable to open raster map <%s>" >From translation 
>> list:
>>  > > > I would prefer not using "Cannot...". It's bad grammar. I 
>> would much
>> > > > prefer "Unable to..." or something to that effect.
>>
>>  > >
>> > > While I can see your point, that construction is quite common in 
>> error
>> > > messages, e.g.:
>> > >
>> > > $ ls -l foo
>> > > ls: cannot access foo: No such file or directory
>> > >
>> > > Neither "cannot ..." nor "unable to ..." form complete sentences.
>> > >
>> > > If you're concerned about grammar, you can provide an explicit 
>> subject
>> > > ("The program cannot ..."), or use the third person (e.g. "The file
>> > > cannot be found").
>> > >
>> > > Personally, I don't have a problem with just omitting the subject.
>>
>>  > Point taken. I was really referring to the usage of "Cannot". Some
>> > dictionaries do not recognize it as 'real word', yet others (that are
>> > generally more progressive with slang and contractions) say that it
>> > should replace "can not" in modern English.
>>
>> >
>> > It's a non-problem. In modules I've [re]written, I've used "Unable 
>> to",
>> > but I can go back and change them for consistency.
>>
>>
>>  It seems to me that "Unable to" is the most impartial form.
>>
>>
>>
>>  Martin
>>
>>  PS: Thanks to Carlos for this hard job!
>>  Thanks to all of you for the support.
>>
>>
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>>
>
>