// Package english provides utilities to generate more user-friendly English output. package english import ( "fmt" "strings" ) // These are included because they are common technical terms. var specialPlurals = map[string]string{ "index": "indices", "matrix": "matrices", "vertex": "vertices", } var sibilantEndings = []string{"s", "sh", "tch", "x"} var isVowel = map[byte]bool{ 'A': true, 'E': true, 'I': true, 'O': true, 'U': true, 'a': true, 'e': true, 'i': true, 'o': true, 'u': true, } // PluralWord builds the plural form of an English word. // The simple English rules of regular pluralization will be used // if the plural form is an empty string (i.e. not explicitly given). // The special cases are not guaranteed to work for strings outside ASCII. func PluralWord(quantity int, singular, plural string) string { if quantity == 1 { return singular } if plural != "" { return plural } if plural = specialPlurals[singular]; plural != "" { return plural } // We need to guess what the English plural might be. Keep this // function simple! It doesn't need to know about every possiblity; // only regular rules and the most common special cases. // // Reference: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_plural for _, ending := range sibilantEndings { if strings.HasSuffix(singular, ending) { return singular + "es" } } l := len(singular) if l >= 2 && singular[l-1] == 'o' && !isVowel[singular[l-2]] { return singular + "es" } if l >= 2 && singular[l-1] == 'y' && !isVowel[singular[l-2]] { return singular[:l-1] + "ies" } return singular + "s" } // Plural formats an integer and a string into a single pluralized string. // The simple English rules of regular pluralization will be used // if the plural form is an empty string (i.e. not explicitly given). func Plural(quantity int, singular, plural string) string { return fmt.Sprintf("%d %s", quantity, PluralWord(quantity, singular, plural)) } // WordSeries converts a list of words into a word series in English. // It returns a string containing all the given words separated by commas, // the coordinating conjunction, and a serial comma, as appropriate. func WordSeries(words []string, conjunction string) string { switch len(words) { case 0: return "" case 1: return words[0] default: return fmt.Sprintf("%s %s %s", strings.Join(words[:len(words)-1], ", "), conjunction, words[len(words)-1]) } } // OxfordWordSeries converts a list of words into a word series in English, // using an Oxford comma (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serial_comma). It // returns a string containing all the given words separated by commas, the // coordinating conjunction, and a serial comma, as appropriate. func OxfordWordSeries(words []string, conjunction string) string { switch len(words) { case 0: return "" case 1: return words[0] case 2: return strings.Join(words, fmt.Sprintf(" %s ", conjunction)) default: return fmt.Sprintf("%s, %s %s", strings.Join(words[:len(words)-1], ", "), conjunction, words[len(words)-1]) } }