[Buildroot] [PATCH v2 1/1] manual: update review process and patchwork

[Ryan Barnett]

Thomas D.,

Thomas De Schampheleire <patrickdepinguin at gmail.com> wrote on 10/09/2013 
08:24:43 AM:

> Hi Ryan,
> 
> On Wed, Oct 9, 2013 at 3:01 PM, Ryan Barnett
> <rjbarnet at rockwellcollins.com> wrote:
> >> > +
> >> > +When browsing patches in the patchwork management interface, a 
+mbox+
> >>
> >> shouldn't this be 'an mbox' because you pronounce mbox as embox ?
> >
> > I was on the fence on this one too and with this question you are now
> > testing my grammar education from primary school :) I did do a bit of
> > google research on this and have come to the conclusion that I used 
'a'
> > correctly in this instance. Please see this website which is consider
> > in the US to be a reputable source for English writing:
> >
> > https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/591/01
> 
> It seems we differ in the conclusion after reading the link you provided 
:)
> Here is the excerpt that makes me conclude it should be 'an':

I agree now with you and will fix. See below for more comments.

> -----
> The choice of article is actually based upon the phonetic (sound)
> quality of the first letter in a word, not on the orthographic
> (written) representation of the letter. If the first letter makes a
> vowel-type sound, you use "an"; if the first letter would make a
> consonant-type sound, you use "a."
> -----
> 
> Since mbox is short for mailbox, the m is actually an acronym. Hence
> we pronounce it as 'embox' not 'mmmbox'. Do you agree on this or do
> you pronounce it differently?

I guess I wasn't thinking of it in terms of an acronym. With that case
then I do agree with you that it should be 'an'. And to be clear, I do
agree that it is an acronym.

Native English Speaker:              0
English as Second Language Speaker:  1

It's been a long time since I've had to worry about an English grammar
corner like this . I guess I was just automatically fix minor mistakes 
like this in my head and my spell/grammar checker doesn't call me out.

> So the phonetic quality of the first letter is 'e', a vowel-type
> sound, and hence requires the 'an' article.
> The link you showed does not explicitly describe the situation in case
> of acronym, though.
> 
> I believe it is the same as:
> an MBA program
> an NBA basketball player
> an NSA employee
> an nvidia driver

Good examples. Thank you for spending the time on this minor mistake
and in the future I will try to watch this.
 
> Although less reputable than the link you provided, the following
> sites back me up on this:
> 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_articles#Distinction_between_a_and_an
> http://editingandwritingservices.com/using-articles-with-abbreviations/
> http://www.scribendi.com/advice/the_correct_use_of_acronyms.en.html
> 
> Best regards,
> Thomas

Thanks,
-Ryan
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