On Sun, 11 Apr 2010 16:03:42 +0059 Jason McIntyre <j...@kerhand.co.uk>
wrote:
> - it should be "an mpe device", not "a mpe device" (i'll fix the one
> in mpe.4)
The determining factor for the correct use of the indefinite articles
"a" and "an" is based on pronunciation. If the word starts with a
classic vowel sound, like short A, long O, short I, short E, long E and
short U, then "an" should be used, otherwise "a" should be used. The
rule itself is consistent between British and American English, but
since pronunciation differs, application varies.
Assuming one would pronounce the "m" of "mpe" as a short E sound,
namely pronounced as as "em," then your suggestion seems correct at
first glance:
"an early start"
"an employee"
"an mpe device"
None the less, the most correct answer is to avoid the use of
indefinite articles whenever feasible.
If an indefinite article is used, subsequent uses of the noun should
use the definite article "the" rather than reusing the indefinite
article.
"She has a dog. The dog is named stupid, and it runs away often,
so she has to go around the neighborhood calling for it."
In the case of the man pages, the object is not indefinite.
The correct way to handle plurals and mass nouns is with a zero article
(e.g. no article at all), or a partial/partitive article (e.g. "some"),
or negative article (e.g. "no" "none"). Using plurals where applicable
is another good way to get around the use of indefinite articles.
ifconfig(8)
"The following options are available for an mpe(4) interface:"
"The following options are available for the mpe(4) interface:"
"The following options are available for mpe(4) interfaces:"
"The mpe(4) interface options are:"
"mpe(4) interface options:"
mpe(4)
"An mpe interface can be created at runtime using..."
"The mpe interface can be created at runtime using..."
"mpe interfaces can be created at runtime using..."
Personally, I favor brevity to avoid the issue entirely.
The most important question is, if nit-pickery like this even matters?
It took more far time to write this nit-pickery than it took to create the
diffs to fix things (according to *my* view of the world, which may or
may not be entirely accurate, but it's the only one I have, and hence, the
diffs may or may not be acceptable).
jcr
Index: ifconfig.8
===================================================================
RCS file: /cvs/src/sbin/ifconfig/ifconfig.8,v
retrieving revision 1.199
diff -N -u -p ifconfig.8
--- ifconfig.8 12 Apr 2010 01:26:29 -0000 1.199
+++ ifconfig.8 23 Apr 2010 17:27:03 -0000
@@ -429,8 +429,7 @@ the hardware will be re-initialized.
.El
.Pp
.Nm
-supports a multitude of sub-types,
-described in the following sections:
+supports the sub-types described below:
.Pp
.Bl -dash -offset indent -compact
.It
@@ -466,9 +465,8 @@ and
.El
.\" BRIDGE
.Sh BRIDGE
-The following options are available for a
.Xr bridge 4
-interface:
+interface options:
.Bl -tag -width Ds
.It Cm add Ar interface
Add
@@ -746,9 +744,8 @@ Start the bridge forwarding packets.
.Op Cm vhid Ar host-id
.Ek
.Pp
-The following options are available for a
.Xr carp 4
-interface:
+interface options:
.Bl -tag -width Ds
.It Cm advbase Ar n
Set the base advertisement interval to
@@ -845,7 +842,7 @@ will begin advertising as master.
.Op Oo Fl Oc Cm wpapsk Ar psk
.Ek
.Pp
-The following options are available for a wireless interface:
+wireless interface options:
.Bl -tag -width Ds
.It Cm bssid Ar bssid
Set the desired BSSID.
@@ -1084,9 +1081,8 @@ authentication.
.Op Cm vltime Ar n
.Ek
.Pp
-The following options are available for an
.Xr ip6 4
-interface:
+interface options:
.Bl -tag -width Ds
.It Cm anycast
Set the IPv6 anycast address bit.
@@ -1144,7 +1140,7 @@ Set valid lifetime for the address.
.Op Ar number
.Oc
.Pp
-The following options are available for interface groups:
+interface group options:
.Bl -tag -width Ds
.It Fl g Ar group-name
Specify the group.
@@ -1171,9 +1167,8 @@ is omitted, it is decreased by 1.
.Ar mpe-interface
.Op Cm mplslabel Ar mpls-label
.Pp
-The following options are available for an
.Xr mpe 4
-interface:
+interface options:
.Bl -tag -width Ds
.It Cm mplslabel Ar mpls-label
Set the MPLS label to
@@ -1188,9 +1183,8 @@ packets entering the MPLS domain.
.Op Oo Fl Oc Cm flowdst Ar addr : Ns Ar port
.Op Oo Fl Oc Cm flowsrc Ar addr
.Pp
-The following options are available for a
.Xr pflow 4
-interface:
+interface options:
.Bl -tag -width Ds
.It Cm flowdst Ar addr : Ns Ar port
Set the receiver address and the port for
@@ -1223,9 +1217,8 @@ Unset the source address.
.Op Oo Fl Oc Cm syncpeer Ar peer_address
.Ek
.Pp
-The following options are available for a
.Xr pfsync 4
-interface:
+interface options:
.Bl -tag -width Ds
.It Cm defer
Defer transmission of the first packet in a state until a peer has
@@ -1283,9 +1276,8 @@ are described in the
.Sx SPPP
section, below.
.Pp
-The following options are available for a
.Xr pppoe 4
-interface:
+interface options:
.Bl -tag -width Ds
.It Cm pppoeac Ar access-concentrator
Set the name of the access-concentrator.
@@ -1311,11 +1303,10 @@ Clear a previously set service name.
.Op Cm peername Ar name
.Op Cm peerproto Ar proto
.Pp
-The following options are availble for an
.Xr sppp 4
or
.Xr pppoe 4
-interface:
+interface options:
.Bl -tag -width Ds
.It Cm authkey Ar key
Set the client key or password for the PPP authentication protocol.
@@ -1371,9 +1362,8 @@ In the latter case, authentication will be turned off.
.Op Oo Fl Oc Ns Cm trunkport Ar child-iface
.Op Cm trunkproto Ar proto
.Pp
-The following options are available for a
.Xr trunk 4
-interface:
+interface options:
.Bl -tag -width Ds
.It Cm trunkport Ar child-iface
Add
@@ -1398,7 +1388,7 @@ for a complete list of the available protocols,
.Op Cm tunneldomain Ar route-id
.Ek
.Pp
-The following options are available for a tunnel interface:
+tunnel interface options:
.Bl -tag -width Ds
.It Cm deletetunnel Ar src_address dest_address
Remove the source and destination tunnel addresses.
@@ -1429,9 +1419,8 @@ the corresponding routing domain is derived from this
.Op Cm vlanprio Ar vlan-priority
.Ek
.Pp
-The following options are available for a
.Xr vlan 4
-interface:
+interface options:
.Bl -tag -width Ds
.It Cm vlan Ar vlan-tag
Set the vlan tag value
Index: mpe.4
===================================================================
RCS file: /cvs/src/share/man/man4/mpe.4,v
retrieving revision 1.6
diff -N -u -p mpe.4
--- mpe.4 11 Apr 2010 15:29:07 -0000 1.6
+++ mpe.4 23 Apr 2010 17:27:42 -0000
@@ -28,20 +28,19 @@ The
interface is an MPLS Provider Edge pseudo-device used to enter
and leave an MPLS domain.
.Pp
-An
.Nm
-interface can be created at runtime using the
+interfaces can be created at runtime using the
.Ic ifconfig mpe Ns Ar N Ic create
-command or by setting up a
+command or by creating a
.Xr hostname.if 5
configuration file for
.Xr netstart 8 .
-The interface itself can be configured with
-.Xr ifconfig 8 ;
-see its manual page for more information.
+.Nm
+interfaces can be configured with
+.Xr ifconfig 8 .
.Pp
.Nm
-interfaces support the following unique ioctls:
+ioctls:
.Bl -tag -width "SIOCSETLABEL" -offset 3n
.It SIOCSETLABEL
Encapsulate packets entering this interface in MPLS using
--
The OpenBSD Journal - http://www.undeadly.org
