Re: Code beautifier

tedd wrote:

At 6:47 PM -0400 7/25/08, Daniel Brown wrote:

On Fri, Jul 25, 2008 at 6:29 PM, tedd <tedd.sperling@gmail.com> wrote:

But, there's nothing wrong with starting a sentence with but.

There, I even started AND ended with one.

    Correct, as I said, in "Reader's Digest" English.  In proper

grammar, it's tantamount to ending a sentence with a preposition[1]. However, even in Reader's Digest English (RDE[TM]), heading a word with "but" is acceptable.... but following it immediately with a comma is not[2].

    1: Hence the name, "pre-position" --- positioned before.
    2: http://www.michbar.org/journal/pdf/pdf4article628.pdf

As I see it, this is more of a "When to use a comma" thing than a "but" thing. I use commas like I talk. For example, I would never say: But that didn't happen. Instead, I would say But -- pause -- that didn't happen. So, I write it: But, that didn't happen.

It's arguably more correct in this case to use ellipsis: But ... I could be wrong :) -- Peter Ford phone: 01580 893333 Developer fax: 01580 893399 Justcroft International Ltd., Staplehurst, Kent