Re: [PATCH] Fix comma splices

From: Jeff King <peff@peff.net>
Date: Jan 22, 2018, 23:08 UTC
Message-ID: <20180122230819.GB21604@sigill.intra.peff.net>
In-Reply-To: <5a656638.LthG4qGgtrvPcSKz%felipe@felipegasper.com>

On Sun, Jan 21, 2018 at 10:19:04PM -0600, felipe@felipegasper.com wrote:

Show 12 quoted lines

> Subject: [PATCH] Fix comma splices in remote.c
> [...]
> @@ -2123,9 +2123,9 @@ int format_tracking_info(struct branch *branch, struct strbuf *sb)
>  				_("  (use \"git push\" to publish your local commits)\n"));
>  	} else if (!ours) {
>  		strbuf_addf(sb,
> -			Q_("Your branch is behind '%s' by %d commit, "
> +			Q_("Your branch is behind '%s' by %d commit "
>  			       "and can be fast-forwarded.\n",
> -			   "Your branch is behind '%s' by %d commits, "
> +			   "Your branch is behind '%s' by %d commits "
>  			       "and can be fast-forwarded.\n",

Yes, the original violates the usual English rules for commas, which say that the dependent clause joined with a conjunction should not have a comma.

(To be pedantic, these aren't comma splices. A comma splice joins two independent clauses with a comma and _without_ a conjunction).

This kind of comma _can_ actually be considered correct if it makes the sentence more clear, or to indicate a more extreme contrast. I tend to agree with you, though, that it does not help clarity here at all.

Show 9 quoted lines

> @@ -2134,11 +2134,11 @@ int format_tracking_info(struct branch *branch, struct strbuf *sb)
>  				_("  (use \"git pull\" to update your local branch)\n"));
>  	} else {
>  		strbuf_addf(sb,
> -			Q_("Your branch and '%s' have diverged,\n"
> -			       "and have %d and %d different commit each, "
> +			Q_("Your branch and '%s' have diverged.\n"
> +			       "They have %d and %d different commit each, "
>  			       "respectively.\n",

This one is the same case as above, but you solved it differently. I agree that the result reads more clearly than the original. And more clearly than:

  Your branch and '%s' have diverged and have %d and %d different
  commits each, respectively.

The first hunk could use the same "start a new sentence" trick, but it's pretty clear as a single sentence. So I think your patch is doing the right thing, my pedantic explanations notwithstanding. ;)

Reading this did make me wonder two things, though:

  1. Do we really need the newline after "diverged"? Especially with the
     comma, it makes the result look funnily wrapped (unless you have an
     extremely long upstream branch name).

     OTOH, if we switch it to a period as your patch does, I think the
     line break looks much more natural.

  2. Is this Q_() here actually helping? It triggers on "ours + theirs"
     being greater than 1. So the "singular" case could only come up if
     you had "0" in one of the cases.  But:

       ...and have 0 and 1 different commit each...

     makes no sense to me in English. It would still be "commits". I
     could accept:

       ...and have 1 commit each...

     for the case where it's 1/1. But we would use "1 and 1 different
     commits each" (which is correct, albeit slightly clunkier).

     In fact, I don't think the singular case here can _ever_ trigger,
     because this is the "else" block we get to when we know that
     neither is zero. So I think the singular half of this Q_() could
     just go away.

     Like:

diff --git a/remote.c b/remote.c
index 4c84ba88dc..52672ac658 100644
--- a/remote.c
+++ b/remote.c
@@ -2096,13 +2096,9 @@ int format_tracking_info(struct branch *branch, struct strbuf *sb)
 				_("  (use \"git pull\" to update your local branch)\n"));
 	} else {
 		strbuf_addf(sb,
-			Q_("Your branch and '%s' have diverged,\n"
-			       "and have %d and %d different commit each, "
-			       "respectively.\n",
-			   "Your branch and '%s' have diverged,\n"
-			       "and have %d and %d different commits each, "
-			       "respectively.\n",
-			   ours + theirs),
+			_("Your branch and '%s' have diverged,\n"
+			  "and have %d and %d different commits each, "
+			  "respectively.\n"),
 			base, ours, theirs);
 		if (advice_status_hints)
 			strbuf_addstr(sb,

(if I were doing such a series, I'd probably do that first as a
preparatory step, and then do grammatical fix on top).

-Peff