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Archiver > TMG > 2002-12 > 1041295286


From: Terry Reigel <>
Subject: Re: [TMG] 5.04 Principal v. Role
Date: Mon, 30 Dec 2002 19:41:45 -0500
References: <000001c2b01e$d96e57f0$6eb52244@khnlic0umhcfd>


Linda Gaylord-Kuhn wrote:

>Quick question first:
> Is it possible to edit Role Names (i.e. change "wife" to "Wife")?
>

I don't think there is a way to do that.

>Main Dilemma.
> I'm a bit confused about when to use Principal and when to use Role.
>

First, you are using the Roles in two ways - 1) to apply a specific
sentence structure for some one, and 2) to refer to someone by Role in
the Sentence Structure of another person. These are both valid uses for
Roles, but it's good to have in mind which you are trying to accomplish
when you think about using Roles.

>Is there an advantage to one version over the other in my example below?
>If so, _please_ explain.
>
>CENSUS TAG (my sentence structures)
>====================================================
> P = R:Head of Household (?or leave as Principal)
> PO = R:Wife (?or leave as Principal)
> Witnesses = R:Son, R:Dau, etc.
>
>====================================================
> HEAD OF HOUSEHOLD Sentence Option 1:
> [:CR:][:TAB:]. 1930 U.S. CENSUS - <[R:Head of Household]> was listed
>as the head of a household enumerated <[D]> <[L]> (Ref. [M1]<, [M2]>).
><[M3]>
>
> HEAD OF HOUSEHOLD Sentence Option 2:
> [:CR:][:TAB:]. 1930 U.S. CENSUS - <[P]> was listed as the head of a
>household enumerated <[D]> <[L]> (Ref. [M1]<, [M2]>). <[M3]>
>=====================================================
> WIFE Sentence Option 1:
> [:CR:][:TAB:]. 1930 U.S. Census - [R:Wife] was shown as
>[ITAL:]wife[:ITAL] in the household of [R:Head of Household], enumerated
><[D]> <[L]> (Ref. [M1]<, [M2]>).
>
> WIFE Sentence Option 2:
> [:CR:][:TAB:]. 1930 U.S. Census - [P] was shown as
>[ITAL:]wife[:ITAL] in the household of [PO], enumerated <[D]> <[L]>
>(Ref. [M1]<, [M2]>).
>

Is your question whether to assign Roles to the HoH and Wife, or whether
to use the Role variables? If it's the former, you probably want to use
Roles if you want different sentence structures for HoH and Wife, as you
have here. You could do this by using different Sentence structures for
males and females, but then you'd have a problem when the HoH was a
female (mainly when there is no husband in the cases I've seen.) So if
you want them to print this way, I'd say use Roles. One caution -- doing
this make the same census tag appear for both husband and wife in the
Journal reports, while a using a combined sentence structure will cause
it to appear only once. Don't know if that matters to you.

As far as using the Role variables, there is no real value so far as I
can see and it makes the Sentences harder to type. On the other hand,
some might think it's easier to understand the the sentence structure
with the role variables. But in the end it doesn't really matter - the
output is the same.

> =====================================================
>DAUGHTER Sentence Option 1:
> [:CR:][:TAB:]. 1930 U.S. Census - [P] was listed as
>[ITAL:]daughter[:ITAL] in the household of [R:Head of Household]< and
>[R:Wife]>, enumerated <[D]> <[L]> (Ref. [M1]<, [M2]>).
>
>DAUGHTER Sentence Option 2:
> [:CR:][:TAB:]. 1930 U.S. Census - [P] was listed as
>[ITAL:]daughter[:ITAL] in the household of [P1]< and [P2]>, enumerated
><[D]> <[L]> (Ref. [M1]<, [M2]>).
>=====================================================
>

Again, it doesn't matter much. If you use the role variables you can put
either spouse in either Principal slot and the HoH will always be listed
first. If you use [P1] and [P2] you have to be sure you put them in the
correct order, if it matters to you. Use what ever seems to make the
most sense to you. (However, there is an error in both these -- since
the daughter is a Witness, you can't use the [P] variable for her -- you
have to either use [W] or [R:Daughter].)

Often it doesn't matter, and in such cases I generally use the [P] and
[W] variables, so I don't have to type the longer one. However,
sometimes it does matter. If you want to refer to one specific Principal
by Role without regard for the position in the tag, or if you want to
refer to one of several witnesses, you have to use the role variables.

On the other hand, sometimes you can't use the Role variables. Consider
the following example from a marriage tag:

Role: First
Sentence: [P] married first [PO] <[PARO]> <[D]> <[L]>< [M]>

Role: Second
Sentence: [P] married second [PO] <[PARO]> <[D]> <[L]>< [M]>

Role: Third
Sentence: [P] married third [PO] <[PARO]> <[D]> <[L]>< [M]>

In this application, either spouse could have any Role, including the
default Bride or Groom Roles. In fact, both can have the same Role.
While you could use the role variable instead of the [P], you'd go nuts
trying to figure out how to use role variables instead of [PO]. In fact,
I don't know how you could do it when both have the same Role except for
creating a whole set of separate Roles for bride and groom.

But to get back to your original question, if you can't figure out why
you need to use one or the other, it probably doesn't matter.

Terry Reigel

Terry


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