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