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Archiver > TMG > 2004-04 > 1080844390


From: Terry Reigel <>
Subject: Re: [TMG] Conditional Variables: Is or Was
Date: Thu, 1 Apr 2004 13:33:10 -0500
In-Reply-To: <002b01c417ef$e9b17400$6401a8c0@GatewayLaptop>


On Thu, 1 Apr 2004 08:47:40 -0500, Laurie Jones Williams wrote:

> I read this in the online help (Important Notes under
> Conditional Variables):
>
> 4. Note that the tense is determined by the living
> status of the current subject (i.e., person being
> reported in the current paragraph)
>
> But I want my baptism sentence to reflect whether or not
> the godparents are alive. Do I need a LiveGodmother and
> a DecdGodmother role or is there another way?
>
> Or does anyone think "His godmother was . . ." is OK
> whether the poor woman is still alive or not. Personally
> I think she is godmother for life, but don't know whether
> the sentence makes a difference.

I think you are talking about the narrative for the child and want the
text there to say "his godmother is/was..." If that's the case, the
option of using conditional variables won't help, because as Help
says, it refers to whether the "current subject" - that is the child -
is living. Not to whether the godmother is living. Now if you are
writing a sentence for the godmother role, which says something like
"She is/was godmother to Johnnie" it would work.

So, your choice is to create separate roles, as you suggest, or edit
the sentence locally (in either case remembering to change it when you
learn of her death), or, create wording that works either way. I use
something like "He was baptized 3 May 1734, with Anna Maria Fenneker
as godmother." That way it doesn't matter.

Terry Reigel


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