Re: [OT] Doc string grammar

[Julian Foad <ju...@btopenworld.com>]

kfogel@collab.net wrote:
> Julian Foad <ju...@btopenworld.com> writes:
> 
>>I think from now on I will sit on the fence and say something like "We
>>write in the imperative or infinitive (syntactically identical)".
[...]
> 
> Some people might interpret "infinitive" as including the "to", that is:
> 
>    imperative:  "Translate TARGET according to KEYWORDS."
>    infinitive:  "To translate TARGET according to KEYWORDS."

Good point.  Malcolm pointed that out to me privately, too.  I'll avoid saying 
that.

>    passive:     "TARGET is translated according to KEYWORDS."
> 
> To avoid confusion, I usually say either "imperative" or "active
> voice" (treating them as synonymous).

"Imperative" seems to be the winner.  "Active voice" doesn't achieve the 
distinction that I wanted, which was to avoid using the third person singular 
present active indicative ("Translates target").

Phew!  Anyone got a grammar description for the grammar description language?  :-)

- Julian

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