[whatwg] EDITORIAL - Suggested corrections

[Ian Hickson]

On Fri, 28 Aug 2009, Kevin Benson wrote:
> On Fri, Aug 28, 2009 at 3:43 PM, Ian Hickson<ian at hixie.ch> wrote:
> > On Tue, 18 Aug 2009, Kevin Benson wrote:
> >>
> >> 4.10.4.1.17 Radio Button state
> >>
> >> "Either neither a nor b have a form owner, or they both have one and
> >> it is the same for both."
> >>
> >> S//Either a and b both have no form owner//Either neither a nor b have
> >> a form owner// < - - (rewrote "either neither")
> >
> > What's wrong with either neither?
> 
> I just hadn't ever seen and couldn't find another instance of such a 
> grammatical construction in technical documentation...anywhere. Is my 
> suggestion not _as_ clear (or clearer) ???

On Fri, 28 Aug 2009, Tab Atkins Jr. wrote:
> 
> Wow, didn't see this the first time through.  "Either neither" is 
> difficult to parse on a first pass.  One's instinct is to assume that 
> it's a grammatical error.  One has to read a bit to decipher that the 
> "neither" is a nested phrase within the "either".  While this is not 
> ambiguous, neither is it clear.

On Sat, 29 Aug 2009, Øistein E. Andersen wrote:
> 
> ‘Either neither’ seems somewhat awkward, but so does the proposed 
> alternative. Reordering the sentence might make it easier to sidestep 
> the problem:
> 
> 	Either a and b share the same form owner, or neither of them has one.

Ok, removed the 'either neither'.

-- 
Ian Hickson               U+1047E                )\._.,--....,'``.    fL
http://ln.hixie.ch/       U+263A                /,   _.. \   _\  ;`._ ,.
Things that are impossible just take longer.   `._.-(,_..'--(,_..'`-.;.'