I'm trying to fully understnd how TMG generates sentences. For example, I have an Occupation tag like this: The sentence structure is this: [S] worked as [M1] <[L]> <[D]><. [M2]> The sentence generated is: Rowan Sylvester-Bradley worked as Chief Engineer in Herbert and Sons Ltd, Rookwood Way, Haverhill, Suffolk, on 10 Oct 1996. Some parts of the sentence don't come from anything I have entered, nor from the Sentence Structrure (e.g. "in", "on" and the punctuation). Where are these defined? Are they hard coded within TMG? I guess they can't be because of the need to deal with foreign languages. If I want to change some of these things, e.g. change "in" to "at", or a comma to a semicolon, how do I do this? Thanks - Rowan

At 2/16/2019 13:30, Rowan Sylvester-Bradley wrote >Some parts of the sentence don't come from anything I have entered, >nor from the Sentence Structrure (e.g. "in", "on" and the >punctuation). Where are these defined? Are they hard coded within >TMG? I guess they can't be because of the need to deal with foreign >languages. If I want to change some of these things, e.g. change >"in" to "at", or a comma to a semicolon, how do I do this? These place prepositions come from your selection on the Report Definition screen => [Options...] window, Places tab. The Preposition option is at the upper right. Date prepositions are hard wired into TMG. Neither place or data preposition will appear if the Variable is not within Conditional (< & >) Markers. So if the Sentence Structure is: [S] worked as [M1] [L] D]<. [M2]> then the resulting sentence would be: Rowan Sylvester-Bradley worked as Chief Engineer Herbert and Sons Ltd, Rookwood Way, Haverhill, Suffolk, 10 Oct 1996. In both cases, the second Memo segment ([M2]) is ignored because it is marked as Conditional. Lee

Rowan Sylvester-Bradley wrote: > I'm trying to fully understnd how TMG generates sentences. Hi Rowan, I suggest looking at Terry's excellent web-pages explaining TMG. He carefully explains TMG's Sentence Structures beginning on this page: https://tmg.reigelridge.com/Sentences.htm As for the automatic "at" "in" or "on" prepositions, he explains this on the separate page about each type of sentence variable (e.g. [S] [L] [D] [M]) which is referenced from the above page. See: https://tmg.reigelridge.com/variables.htm For example, under the table of Location Variables [L] on that page Terry explains: The preposition "at" or "in" (depending on the report options setting) is placed in front of locations if the variable is enclosed in conditional brackets, provided there is nothing between the opening bracket and the variable. Examples: <[L]> produces: at San Francisco < [L]> produces: San Francisco Much of the sentence construction is automatic, but it is always based on the global or local sentence structure being used, and any sentence variables it contains, along with some report options. > If I want to change some of these things, e.g. change "in" to "at" The specific automatic prepositions for the Location, as Terry mentions above, is controlled by a Report Option. For example, open the Options for the Journal report and click on the "Places" tab. Those options control the *default* output for all Locations in this report, including which (if any) preposition to use. However, both local and global custom sentence structures can be constructed to override these defaults for a tag type or a particular tag sentence. All this can appear somewhat complex at first, but once you learn where to look and how TMG works you can pretty much control the sentence output to be whatever you want. > or a comma to a semicolon, how do I do this? It depends upon what comma you wish to change. The general answer is that one modifies the sentence stucture appropriately to override the defaults. For a particular comma ask a more detailed question and one of us will be happy to explain how to get what you want. Michael

Rowan, Lee and Michael have explained how TMG generates prepositions in sentences. There is also a way to selectively control place prepositions like "in" and "at" by making the preposition part of the place, to be entered on a tag-by-tag basis when the tag is created or edited. I adopted this method a number of years ago to avoid the need to customize sentences. I devoted one place element, L10, to holding the preposition that I want to precede the first of the other elements. Then I set up a custom place style that puts L10 first with no intervening comma in the output. With the Journal Report option set for no preposition I can get just what I want in every report sentence without using sentence customizations for this purpose. Typical wordings this is used for are "in" "at" "near" "in his home" "in rural" etc. When using F2 to reenter a place that has used before, upon typing the first few letters the applicable places appear with different entries for the different prepositions that have been previously used. Downsides are a larger Master Place List, unwanted place prepositions in the Journal Report Index of Places (which I don't use), and unwanted place prepositions in the Journal Report List of Children if any of the BMDB events are included in the report option for abbreviated events for children (I remove these prepositions in the LoC with a simple word processor macro). On 2/16/2019 10:30 AM, Rowan Sylvester-Bradley wrote: > I'm trying to fully understnd how TMG generates sentences. > > For example, I have an Occupation tag like this: > > The sentence structure is this: > > [S] worked as [M1] <[L]> <[D]><. [M2]> > > The sentence generated is: > > Rowan Sylvester-Bradley worked as Chief Engineer in Herbert and Sons > Ltd, Rookwood Way, Haverhill, Suffolk, on 10 Oct 1996. > > Some parts of the sentence don't come from anything I have entered, > nor from the Sentence Structrure (e.g. "in", "on" and the > punctuation). Where are these defined? Are they hard coded within TMG? > I guess they can't be because of the need to deal with foreign > languages. If I want to change some of these things, e.g. change "in" > to "at", or a comma to a semicolon, how do I do this? > > Thanks - Rowan >

Rowan - One thing to keep in mind is that the Sentences included as default for standard Tags in TMG will work for the majority of your data and reports based on that data. HOWEVER, the narrative reports produced from those default Sentences will sound/read like a "canned" report or something like the following simplified version: Joe was born 2 Feb 1912 at Lexington, Kentucky. He married Mary, daughter of John and Susan, on 14 Jun 1934 at Lexington, Kentucky. He died on 22 Sep 1967 at Lexington, Kentucky. He was buried 24 Sep1967 in Lexington Cemetery, Lexington, Kentucky. Mary was born 18 Aug 1917 at Lexington, Kentucky. She married Joe, son of James and Betty, on 14 Jun 1934 at Lexington, Kentucky. She died on 14 Apr 1981 at Lexington, Kentucky. She was buried 16 Apr 1981 in Lexington Cemetery, Lexington, Kentucky. Can you imagine reading a report of say forty pages filled with this kind of writing? Byt the third page, I would be asleep and when I awoke, I probably would not read any more. While default Sentences are good as a starter, it is recommended that the user create Custom Sentences. Many do this by creating new and multiple Roles for most if not all) event Tags. Then it is simple to select a different Role (more or less on a rotating basis) as each new Tag is added to a person. This method requires much work in the beginning. Some customize the Tag Sentences as a Tag is added. This method is a lot more work in the long run. I would suggest that you prepare what I call a "Test" project of about four generationss of one line. This needs only a dozen or so people with just the birth, marriage, death, burial, and Relationship Tags. Now, if you have a question about how a report would look based on various Report Definition [Options...], this can show you. If you have a question about how a specific Tag would appear, add that Tag to someone in the Test project (doesn't much matter who and the data does not have to be real although it needs to be enough like reality to give the expected results). You may want to add new persons enough to give the similar kind of situation that you expect to encounter in your main project. I started with about a dozen people and have over the years increased the size to a few dozen. Actually, I have done this a number of times as I created a backup of the original, and Retored that backup a number of times since the project got big enough that I did not remember all the "fake" things I added. So I just started over with wjat I knew was okay and then modified it an needed again and again. Lee