Re: [PATCH] fix some doc typos and grammar
- From
- Andy Parkins <andyparkins@gmail.com>
- Date
- Feb 2, 2007, 09:49 UTC
- Message-ID
- <200702020949.09655.andyparkins@gmail.com>
- 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