Creating and Editing

Tag Sentences and Memos

(Note: This is applicable to all versions of TMGW)

Very often you want a tag sentence to read a certain way, and it is easy to change the Sentence Structure in a Tag so that the Date and/or Place data come first in a Sentence. This ability to re-arrange a Sentence helps make a narrative report to be less monotonous and more interesting reading.

Still, there are times when you would like part of the Memo field to be printed first in the Sentence, another part a bit later and still a third part even later. This can be done in TMG by dividing the Memo field into as many sub-fields as are needed. Each sub-field is separated from another by using two vertical bars " || ". For example, a two-part Memo might have: Part one||Part two. And a three-part Memo field Memo might be: Part one||Part two||Part three.

Suppose that you have a Milit-Beg tag with date, place, and Memo data and want to split up the Memo field. Let’s assume the Memo field has that the person enlisted "in Colonel Sanders’ 24th Regiment as a Private in Company B which was led by Captain Fred Chicken." The default Tag Sentence Structure for this Tag is:
            "[P] <|and [PO]> began military Service <[D]> <[L]> <[M]>."

So if you want the sentence to print as: "As a Private, Charles Little began military service at Corbin, Kentucky, in Colonel Sander’s 24th Regiment on 24 June 1862 in Company B which was led by Captain Chicken", then you will want to change the Tag Sentence Structure to something like:
            "<[M1], >[P] <|and [PO]> began military Service< [L]><, [M2]> <[D]> <[M3]>."

Then you would the Memo field should be entered in this way:
Ex. #1: "As a Private||in Colonel Sander’s 24th Regiment||in Company B which was led by Captain Chicken"

While this is rather contrived in order to have three sub-fields, this should give you an idea of how it works. While the subfields are numbered from left to right in the Memo field, they may be used in any order in the Sentence Structure. That is, if the Sentence Structure was like this:
            "[M2], [P] <|and [PO]> began military Service <[L]>, [M1]<[D]> <[M3]>"

then the Memo field entry should be:
Ex. #2: "in Colonel Sander’s 24th Regiment||As a Private||in Company B which was led by Captain Chicken"

The resulting sentence would be the same.

If you enter the data in sub-fields and don’t change the sentence, then the sentence would read:
            "Charles Little began military service on 24 June 1862 at Corbin, Kentucky, As a Private."

In other words, the [M] variable is automatically accepted as the same as the [M1] variable, and the data for the other two (using Ex. #1 as the Memo field) sub-fields would be ignored.

But if a non-existent sub-field is referenced in a Sentence Structure, then TMG inserts an empty value and the normal sentence rules prevail. For example, if the Sentence Structure was:
            "<[M1], >[P] <|and [PO]> began military Service< [M4]>< [L]><, [M2]> <[D]> <[M3]>"

and the Memo field as in Ex. #1 above, then the result would be as if the sub-field corresponding to [M4] existed , but was empty. In such a case, the variable would be ignored. On the other hand, if the conditional markers (the angle brackets "< >") were not entered, the result would be:
            "As a Private, Charles Little began military service (an unknown value) at Corbin, Kentucky, in
            Colonel Sander’s 24th Regiment on 24 June 1862 in Company B which was led by Captain Chicken".

A special variable "M0" is available for use for those cases where the Memo field is not referenced in a Sentence Structure (and not desired to print). This variable is considered to represent an empty variable by definition. For example, a Witness Sentence Structure might not include the Memo field variable "[M]" or may not even have the variable, but if the Publications Tool button option of ‘embedded Memo’ is chosen, then the full text of the Memo would be printed for that Witness Sentence. In such a case, you would enter the special variable of "M0" (that is M and zero) in the Witness Sentence Structure, such as:
            "[W] witnessed the beginning of military service of [P] <and [PO]> <[D]> <[L]> <[M0]>"

and the resulting sentence would be as if the Memo field was empty.

Comments to: Lee Hoffman

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