[filesystems] uses of "respectively" in wording is incorrect
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Description
[filesystems] has awkward wording like the following:
- "Effects: Equivalent to pathobject = p, then refresh() or refresh(ec), respectively. If an error occurs the value of any cached attributes is unspecified."
- "Returns: exists(this->status()) or exists(this->status(ec)), respectively."
In both cases, the use of respectively is wrong and adds nothing.
From http://www.wordforword.se/download/Respect.pdf:
"The use of respectively in English requires parallelism. In other words, there must
be a direct one-to-one correspondence.
Examples:
The values of X and Y were found to be 21.7 and 56.9, respectively."
Removing "respectively" would fix the English, but it doesn't address the problem that the author was trying to solve by adding "respectively" in the first place.
Comments from Jonathan:
It's because there are two overloads. The first one does refresh() and the second one (which has the ec parameter) does refresh(ec).
It could be reworded as "then, for the first overload, refresh(), for the second overload, refresh(ec)" but it should be done throughout 30.10 (it might fix some overfull hboxes though).
I think that would be a definite improvement.
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Research direction
Search the draft source for the quoted filesystem wording and review section 30.10, including the overload descriptions that use "respectively." Reword each incorrect use consistently, then verify that the relevant section no longer contains the problematic phrasing.
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Assessment
- Tech stack
- tex
- Domain
- documentation
- Issue type
- Documentation
- Difficulty
- 3/5
- Estimated time
- 1-2 days
- Activity status
- Stale
- Clarity
- Mostly clear
- Newbie friendliness
- 35/100