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Archiver > TMG > 2006-06 > 1149169130


From: Terry Reigel <>
Subject: Re: [TMG] born - at England
Date: Thu, 1 Jun 2006 09:38:50 -0400
In-Reply-To: <000f01c6852a$329d5450$6401a8c0@gatewaysystem>


On Wed, 31 May 2006 20:19:29 -0700, Karenhappuch wrote:
> Delighted prepositions are not part of the MPL. Some of
> us don't think that is the place for prepostions and
> don't want the MPL cluttered with them. Also many users
> either don't use or seldom use place styles. What it the
> problem with just adding the preposition <in [COUNTRY]>
> to that sentence?

I'm with Barbara on this one. I'll have to admit that I was startled
some time back to learn from discussion on this list that there was a
big problem with place prepositions - I'd never found an issue there.
<g>

Most of my tag types have a default sentence with the place variable
of <[L]>. I set my narrative reports to use "in," which I find works
for the majority of cases. If I need "at" for a particular tag, I edit
the sentence so the place variable is <at [L]>. Seems to me that "in"
or "at" is part of the report formatting, and not data, so does not
belong in the data fields.

When I need a different modifier - "near," "south of," "five miles
from" or the like - I do regard that as part of the data and enter it
in the place fields. I then change the place variable in the sentence
to < [L]> (note space between the opening conditional bracket and
variable) to suppress the automatic "in."

All this is not to say that some better tool for managing place
prepositions couldn't be developed, but only to say that for me, the
current tools work fine. "Fixing" the place preposition issue is way,
way, down on my personal list of enhancement priorities. <g>

Terry Reigel

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