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MS Office Forum / Word / Mailmerge and Fax / June 2006Compensating for "a" and "an"
I am doing a mailmerge document and need help with a field that will recognize whether the mergefield result begins with a consonant or a vowel. For instance the sentance might read "His pet is a <<cat>>." or "His pet is a <<owl>>. I need a field to substitute "an" for "a" when the mergefield begins with a consonant. Any ideas? I think that the only way to deal with this is to include the article in the data source. If the data source is a Word document, this could be done using a Wildcard Replace See the article "Finding and replacing characters using wildcards" at: http://www.word.mvps.org/FAQs/General/UsingWildcards.htm If the data source is not a Word document, you could use a catalog or directory (depends on the version of Word) mailmerge to get the data source into a Word table so that Wildcard Replace could be used upon it.  SignatureHope this helps. Please reply to the newsgroup unless you wish to avail yourself of my services on a paid consulting basis. Doug Robbins - Word MVP >I am doing a mailmerge document and need help with a field that will > recognize whether the mergefield result begins with a consonant or a [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] > a <<owl>>. I need a field to substitute "an" for "a" when the mergefield > begins with a consonant. Any ideas? You could use nested conditional fields top test for the vowels eg { IF{ Mergefield Type \*lower} = "a*" "an" "{ IF{ Mergefield Type \*lower} = "e*" "an" "{ IF{ Mergefield Type \*lower} = "i*" "an" "{ IF{ Mergefield Type \*lower} = "o*" "an" "{ IF{ Mergefield Type \*lower} = "u*" "an" "a" }" }" }" }" } Signature<>>< ><<> ><<> <>>< ><<> <>>< <>><<> Graham Mayor - Word MVP My web site www.gmayor.com Word MVP web site http://word.mvps.org <>>< ><<> ><<> <>>< ><<> <>>< <>><<> > I am doing a mailmerge document and need help with a field that will > recognize whether the mergefield result begins with a consonant or a [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > pet is a <<owl>>. I need a field to substitute "an" for "a" when the > mergefield begins with a consonant. Any ideas? A simpler version of Graham's solution: {IF{Mergefield Type \*lower}<> "a*" {IF{Mergefield Type \*lower}<> "e*" {IF{Mergefield Type \*lower}<> "i*" {IF{ Mergefield Type \*lower}<> "o*" IF{Mergefield Type \*lower}<> "u*" a an}}}}} If you're sure the animal types will always have lower-case letters, you could delete all the '\*lower' switches too. Cheers Signaturemacropod [MVP - Microsoft Word] > I am doing a mailmerge document and need help with a field that will > recognize whether the mergefield result begins with a consonant or a vowel. > > For instance the sentance might read "His pet is a <<cat>>." or "His pet is > a <<owl>>. I need a field to substitute "an" for "a" when the mergefield > begins with a consonant. Any ideas? Simpler? ;) I prefer to add the \*lower switch when making this type of comparison as I have been bitten too many times with unfortunate data entry (not mine). At least this way it should work whatever is entered. Signature<>>< ><<> ><<> <>>< ><<> <>>< <>><<> Graham Mayor - Word MVP My web site www.gmayor.com Word MVP web site http://word.mvps.org <>>< ><<> ><<> <>>< ><<> <>>< <>><<> > A simpler version of Graham's solution: > {IF{Mergefield Type \*lower}<> "a*" {IF{Mergefield Type \*lower}<> [quoted text clipped - 13 lines] >> pet is a <<owl>>. I need a field to substitute "an" for "a" when >> the mergefield begins with a consonant. Any ideas? Only a single a/an result, and 20% fewer characters - mostly unnecessary quotes & spaces. ||:o)} I do wonder though what the OP will do when he/she finds he/she has an hare or a ewe!! Cheers Signaturemacropod [MVP - Microsoft Word] > Simpler? ;) > [quoted text clipped - 19 lines] > >> pet is a <<owl>>. I need a field to substitute "an" for "a" when > >> the mergefield begins with a consonant. Any ideas? Or a holy cow? SignatureHope this helps. Please reply to the newsgroup unless you wish to avail yourself of my services on a paid consulting basis. Doug Robbins - Word MVP > Only a single a/an result, and 20% fewer characters - mostly unnecessary > quotes & spaces. ||:o)} [quoted text clipped - 30 lines] >> >> pet is a <<owl>>. I need a field to substitute "an" for "a" when >> >> the mergefield begins with a consonant. Any ideas? luckily, the animals were only an example :) the actual field result will be the name of a state, so I will adjust the "lower" accordingly. I knew there had to be a way to do it. Thank you guys so much for your help. By the way, I just bought a book on Word VBA. Going to try to beef up my understanding a bit. Any suggestions for a book that goes through a thorough discussion of fields and switches? > Or a holy cow? > [quoted text clipped - 32 lines] > >> >> pet is a <<owl>>. I need a field to substitute "an" for "a" when > >> >> the mergefield begins with a consonant. Any ideas? No book - but see http://www.gmayor.com/formatting_word_fields.htm Signature<>>< ><<> ><<> <>>< ><<> <>>< <>><<> Graham Mayor - Word MVP My web site www.gmayor.com Word MVP web site http://word.mvps.org <>>< ><<> ><<> <>>< ><<> <>>< <>><<> > luckily, the animals were only an example :) the actual field result > will be the name of a state, so I will adjust the "lower" [quoted text clipped - 60 lines] >>>>>> "His pet is a <<owl>>. I need a field to substitute "an" for >>>>>> "a" when the mergefield begins with a consonant. Any ideas? And fellow MVP, macropod's tutorial at: http://www.wopr.com/cgi-bin/w3t/showthreaded.pl?Number=249902 SignatureHope this helps. Please reply to the newsgroup unless you wish to avail yourself of my services on a paid consulting basis. Doug Robbins - Word MVP > luckily, the animals were only an example :) the actual field result will > be [quoted text clipped - 53 lines] >> >> >> pet is a <<owl>>. I need a field to substitute "an" for "a" when >> >> >> the mergefield begins with a consonant. Any ideas? Doug's pointed you to my date calculations 'tutorial. I've also got another 'tutorial' - on Word field maths - at: http://www.wopr.com/cgi-bin/w3t/showthreaded.pl?Number=365442 with plenty of examples of what can be done with just a few of the field switches. Cheers Signaturemacropod [MVP - Microsoft Word] > luckily, the animals were only an example :) the actual field result will be > the name of a state, so I will adjust the "lower" accordingly. I knew there [quoted text clipped - 40 lines] > > >> >> pet is a <<owl>>. I need a field to substitute "an" for "a" when > > >> >> the mergefield begins with a consonant. Any ideas? One of them is enough to "blow your mind". SignatureHope this helps. Please reply to the newsgroup unless you wish to avail yourself of my services on a paid consulting basis. Doug Robbins - Word MVP > Doug's pointed you to my date calculations 'tutorial. I've also got > another [quoted text clipped - 66 lines] >> > >> >> pet is a <<owl>>. I need a field to substitute "an" for "a" when >> > >> >> the mergefield begins with a consonant. Any ideas? Don't you just hate this man ;) I have added a link to that tutorial on my http://www.gmayor.com/formatting_word_fields.htm page. Great stuff! Signature<>>< ><<> ><<> <>>< ><<> <>>< <>><<> Graham Mayor - Word MVP My web site www.gmayor.com Word MVP web site http://word.mvps.org <>>< ><<> ><<> <>>< ><<> <>>< <>><<> > One of them is enough to "blow your mind". > [quoted text clipped - 84 lines] >>>>>>>> for "a" when the mergefield begins with a consonant. Any >>>>>>>> ideas? Thanks guys, Nice to be appreciated. Cheers Signaturemacropod [MVP - Microsoft Word] > Don't you just hate this man ;) > I have added a link to that tutorial on my [quoted text clipped - 88 lines] > >>>>>>>> for "a" when the mergefield begins with a consonant. Any > >>>>>>>> ideas? I've taken my cue from you and added links to my http://addbalance.com/word/download.htm and http://addbalance.com/usersguide/fields.htm pages. These documents are great resources. SignatureCharles Kenyon Word New User FAQ & Web Directory: http://addbalance.com/word Intermediate User's Guide to Microsoft Word (supplemented version of Microsoft's Legal Users' Guide) http://addbalance.com/usersguide See also the MVP FAQ: http://word.mvps.org/FAQs/ which is awesome! My criminal defense site: http://addbalance.com --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- This message is posted to a newsgroup. Please post replies and questions to the newsgroup so that others can learn from my ignorance and your wisdom. > Don't you just hate this man ;) > I have added a link to that tutorial on my [quoted text clipped - 88 lines] >>>>>>>>> for "a" when the mergefield begins with a consonant. Any >>>>>>>>> ideas?
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