# [PATCH] revisions.txt: correct a mistake in dotted range notations section 4 messages from 2023-04-26 to 2023-05-02. Participants: Pooyan Khanjankhani via GitGitGadget, Junio C Hamano, Chris Torek, Felipe Contreras. Thread: https://gitlist.dev/t/59659 ## Pooyan Khanjankhani via GitGitGadget, 2023-04-26 07:44 Subject: [PATCH] revisions.txt: correct a mistake in dotted range notations section Message-ID: URL: https://gitlist.dev/e/pull.1485.git.git.1682495081131.gitgitgadget%40gmail.com ``` From: Pooyan Khanjankhani Insert a missing 'not' word in a negative sentence. ... but are [not] reachable from neither A or C. Signed-off-by: Pooyan Khanjankhani --- docs: Fix sentencing Just fixed a sentence in docs. Published-As: https://github.com/gitgitgadget/git/releases/tag/pr-git-1485%2FTheKhanj%2Fdocs%2Fsentencing-v1 Fetch-It-Via: git fetch https://github.com/gitgitgadget/git pr-git-1485/TheKhanj/docs/sentencing-v1 Pull-Request: https://github.com/git/git/pull/1485 Documentation/revisions.txt | 2 +- 1 file changed, 1 insertion(+), 1 deletion(-) diff --git a/Documentation/revisions.txt b/Documentation/revisions.txt index 9aa58052bc7..00c2f030da5 100644 --- a/Documentation/revisions.txt +++ b/Documentation/revisions.txt @@ -306,7 +306,7 @@ other, e.g. does *not* specify two revision ranges for most commands. Instead it will name a single connected set of commits, i.e. those that are -reachable from either B or D but are reachable from neither A or C. +reachable from either B or D but are not reachable from neither A or C. In a linear history like this: ---A---B---o---o---C---D base-commit: ae73b2c8f1da39c39335ee76a0f95857712c22a7 -- gitgitgadget ``` ## Junio C Hamano, 2023-04-26 16:46 Subject: Re: [PATCH] revisions.txt: correct a mistake in dotted range notations section Message-ID: URL: https://gitlist.dev/e/xmqqo7natwvh.fsf%40gitster.g In-Reply-To: ``` "Pooyan Khanjankhani via GitGitGadget" writes: > $ git log A..B C..D > > does *not* specify two revision ranges for most commands. Instead > it will name a single connected set of commits, i.e. those that are > -reachable from either B or D but are reachable from neither A or C. > +reachable from either B or D but are not reachable from neither A or C. > In a linear history like this: > > ---A---B---o---o---C---D > > because A and B are reachable from C, the revision range specified > by these two dotted ranges is a single commit D. Isn't that an unwanted double negative? The first hit I got about "neither double negation" on Google search was: https://www.grammar-monster.com/lessons/either_or_neither_nor_double_negative.htm but the source of this might sound more authoritative: https://dictionary.cambridge.org/grammar/british-grammar/neither-neither-nor-and-not-either_2 ``` ## Chris Torek, 2023-04-26 21:16 Subject: Re: [PATCH] revisions.txt: correct a mistake in dotted range notations section Message-ID: URL: https://gitlist.dev/e/CAPx1GverCci3SZQEMvFX_q7r3XSTKmPizfcj8QcvGNud7reY9g%40mail.gmail.com In-Reply-To: ``` On Wed, Apr 26, 2023 at 1:00 AM Pooyan Khanjankhani via GitGitGadget wrote: > From: Pooyan Khanjankhani > > Insert a missing 'not' word in a negative sentence. > ... but are [not] reachable from neither A or C. There's a peculiarity of the English language here that means you should not use the word "not". The actual error is using "or" as the conjunction, instead of "nor": the construct should read "neither nor ", and it means that both alternatives are rejected. That said, there's almost certainly a reformulation that uses language less-confusing to non-native speakers. Perhaps this is better (I haven't actually made a commit of this, it's just a diff in place): diff --git a/Documentation/revisions.txt b/Documentation/revisions.txt index 9aa58052bc..5460820377 100644 --- a/Documentation/revisions.txt +++ b/Documentation/revisions.txt @@ -305,14 +305,14 @@ other, e.g. $ git log A..B C..D does *not* specify two revision ranges for most commands. Instead -it will name a single connected set of commits, i.e. those that are -reachable from either B or D but are reachable from neither A or C. -In a linear history like this: +it will name a single connected set of commits: those that are +reachable from either B or D, but not reachable from either A or C. +For example, in a linear history like this: ---A---B---o---o---C---D because A and B are reachable from C, the revision range specified -by these two dotted ranges is a single commit D. +by these two dotted ranges is the single commit D. Other {caret} Parent Shorthand Notations Chris ``` ## Felipe Contreras, 2023-05-02 16:57 Subject: Re: [PATCH] revisions.txt: correct a mistake in dotted range notations section Message-ID: <64514101af396_1ba2d294cd@chronos.notmuch> URL: https://gitlist.dev/e/64514101af396_1ba2d294cd%40chronos.notmuch In-Reply-To: ``` Chris Torek wrote: > On Wed, Apr 26, 2023 at 1:00 AM Pooyan Khanjankhani via GitGitGadget > wrote: > > From: Pooyan Khanjankhani > > > > Insert a missing 'not' word in a negative sentence. > > ... but are [not] reachable from neither A or C. > > There's a peculiarity of the English language here that means you > should not use the word "not". The actual error is using "or" as > the conjunction, instead of "nor": the construct should read > "neither nor ", and it means that > both alternatives are rejected. But it's not the same to say "not reachable from either A or C", and "reachable from neither A nor C". In the latter if a commit is reachable from X (or anything other than A or C), it should be included. So A~ would be included, because it's reachable from B and reachable from not A (i.e. B). It should be "not reachable from either A or C". Cheers. -- Felipe Contreras ```