Module: Linguistics::EN::Articles

Defined in:
lib/linguistics/en/articles.rb

Overview

Indefinite article methods for the English-language Linguistics module.

Constant Summary collapse

A_abbrev =

This pattern matches strings of capitals starting with a “vowel-sound” consonant followed by another consonant, and which are not likely to be real words (oh, all right then, it’s just magic!)

%r{
	^(
		(?!
			FJO       |
			[HLMNS]Y. |
			RY[EO]    |
			SQU       |
			(
				F[LR]?         |
				[HL]           |
				MN?            |
				N              |
				RH?            |
				S[CHKLMNPTVW]? |
				X(YL)?
			) [AEIOU]
		)
	[FHLMNRSX][A-Z]
	)
}x
A_y_cons =

This pattern codes the beginnings of all english words begining with a ‘y’ followed by a consonant. Any other y-consonant prefix therefore implies an abbreviation.

%r{^(y(?:b[lor]|cl[ea]|fere|gg|p[ios]|rou|tt))}i
A_explicit_an =

Exceptions to exceptions

Regexp.union( /euler/i, /hour(?!i)/i, /heir/i, /honest/i, /hono/i )
PL_count_zero =

Words which always indicate zero quantity

Regexp.union( "0", "no", "zero", "nil" )

Instance Method Summary collapse

Instance Method Details

#a(count = nil) ⇒ Object Also known as: an

Return the inflected phrase with the appropriate indefinite article (“a” or “an”) prepended.



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# File 'lib/linguistics/en/articles.rb', line 106

def a( count=nil )
	count ||= 1
	phrase = self.to_s

	md = /\A(\s*)(.+?)(\s*)\Z/.match( phrase )
	pre, word, post = md.to_a[1,3]
	return phrase if word.nil? or word.empty?

	result = word.en.indef_article
	return pre + result + post
end

#indef_article(count = nil) ⇒ Object

Returns the given word with a prepended indefinite article, unless count is non-nil and not singular.



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# File 'lib/linguistics/en/articles.rb', line 50

def indef_article( count=nil )
	word = self.to_s

	self.log.debug "Fetching the indefinite article for %p (count = %p)" % [ word, count ]
	return "#{count} #{word}" if
		count && /^(#{PL_count_one})$/i !~ count.to_s

	# Handle user-defined variants
	# return value if value = ud_match( word, A_a_user_defined )

	self.log.debug "  count wasn't a definite singular countword"
	case word

	# Handle special cases
	when /^(#{A_explicit_an})/i
		return "an #{word}"

	# Handle abbreviations
	when A_abbrev
		return "an #{word}"
	when /^[aefhilmnorsx][.-]/i
		return "an #{word}"
	when /^[a-z][.-]/i
		return "a #{word}"

	# Handle consonants
	when /^[^aeiouy]/i
		return "a #{word}"

	# Handle special vowel-forms
	when /^e[uw]/i
		return "a #{word}"
	when /^onc?e\b/i
		return "a #{word}"
	when /^uni([^nmd]|mo)/i
		return "a #{word}"
	when /^u[bcfhjkqrst][aeiou]/i
		return "a #{word}"

	# Handle vowels
	when /^[aeiou]/i
		return "an #{word}"

	# Handle y... (before certain consonants implies (unnaturalized) "i.." sound)
	when A_y_cons
		return "an #{word}"

	# Otherwise, guess "a"
	else
		return "a #{word}"
	end
end

#no(count = nil) ⇒ Object

Translate zero-quantified phrase to “no phrase.plural”



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# File 'lib/linguistics/en/articles.rb', line 123

def no( count=nil )
	phrase = self.to_s
	md = /\A(\s*)(.+?)(\s*)\Z/.match( phrase )
	pre, word, post = md.to_a[1,3]
	count ||= 0

	unless /^#{PL_count_zero}$/ =~ count.to_s
		return "#{pre}#{count} " + plural( word, count ) + post
	else
		return "#{pre}no " + word.en.plural( 0 ) + post
	end
end