Re: [PATCH 08/10] merge-strategies.txt: fix simple capitalization error

From: Elijah Newren <newren@gmail.com>
To: Johannes Schindelin <Johannes.Schindelin@gmx.de>
Cc: Elijah Newren via GitGitGadget <gitgitgadget@gmail.com>,
	Git Mailing List <git@vger.kernel.org>
Subject: Re: [PATCH 08/10] merge-strategies.txt: fix simple capitalization error
Date: Tue, 3 Aug 2021 17:32:51 -0600	[thread overview]
Message-ID: <CABPp-BFuHiBGC-JnneJYCUWbX4VAT22wTFh=W2msca9A7Yovjw@mail.gmail.com> (raw)
In-Reply-To: <nycvar.QRO.7.76.6.2108040058520.55@tvgsbejvaqbjf.bet>

On Tue, Aug 3, 2021 at 5:01 PM Johannes Schindelin
<Johannes.Schindelin@gmx.de> wrote:
>
> Hi Elijah,
>
> On Tue, 3 Aug 2021, Elijah Newren via GitGitGadget wrote:
>
> > From: Elijah Newren <newren@gmail.com>
> >
> > Signed-off-by: Elijah Newren <newren@gmail.com>
> > ---
> >  Documentation/git-rebase.txt | 2 +-
> >  1 file changed, 1 insertion(+), 1 deletion(-)
> >
> > diff --git a/Documentation/git-rebase.txt b/Documentation/git-rebase.txt
> > index 7044afba362..b4429954480 100644
> > --- a/Documentation/git-rebase.txt
> > +++ b/Documentation/git-rebase.txt
> > @@ -530,7 +530,7 @@ The `--rebase-merges` mode is similar in spirit to the deprecated
> >  where commits can be reordered, inserted and dropped at will.
> >  +
> >  It is currently only possible to recreate the merge commits using the
> > -`recursive` merge strategy; Different merge strategies can be used only via
> > +`recursive` merge strategy; different merge strategies can be used only via
>
> I am not a native speaker, so I'm eager to learn what is the correct thing
> to do here. In particular since I continued in lower-case after a
> semicolon for _years_, right up until some native speaker mentioned that
> that's only correct if I continue with an incomplete sentence. If a
> complete sentence follows the semicolon, so the advice went, I should
> start the sentence with an upper-case letter.
>
> Could you help me understand the correct rules here?

First I've ever heard of it; I just presumed it was a typo.  I don't
pretend to be an expert on such topics (and although native speakers
may have an edge in knowing what "sounds natural", I tend to presume
we are less likely to know the rules).  However, some quick internet
searches suggest that different style guides differ on whether to
follow a *colon* with a capital letter[1][2][3], but everything I can
find suggests that *semicolons* should always be followed by a
lowercase letter (with exceptions for proper nouns)[2][4][5][and
others...].

[1] http://www.sussex.ac.uk/informatics/punctuation/colonandsemi/colon
[2] https://www.quora.com/Why-is-capitalization-necessary-after-a-semi-colon
[3] https://writingcenter.unc.edu/tips-and-tools/semi-colons-colons-and-dashes/
[4] https://writeanswers.royalroads.ca/faq/199268
[5] https://wordcounter.net/blog/2016/06/24/101812_capitalize-words-colon-semi-colon.html

So, after reading through the above links, I'm fairly convinced that
'different' should be lowercase here.