This page updated 7 Feb 2014
Version note: Applies to TMG 8 & 9
Sentence variables are used in Sentence Structures of tags to specify how the various data fields in that tag will be assembled into text for narrative reports. My article on Modifying Tag Sentence Structures describes how to apply these variables. The Event Tag variables can also be used in Memo fields. See my articles on an Expanded Census Tag and A Customized Will Tag for examples of this usage.
The following tables list all the available variables and describe their uses. The variables may be typed into the fields, but it is generally simpler to select them from the right-click menus in the Memo and Sentence Structure fields.
Variables that refer to people refer to a person or person in one of three ways:
Position Variables – refer to a person by where they are entered in a Tag. The following positions are recognized:
Current Principal | Each section of a narrative report has a "focus person" – the one that part of the report is about. When a tag has two principals, and the report section is about one of them, the Current Principal is the one who is the focus of the section. |
Other Principal | The Principal that is not the focus of the report section. |
First Principal | The Principal listed first on the Tag Entry screen. |
Second Principal | The Principal listed second on the Tag Entry screen. |
Current Witness | The Witness who is the focus of the report section. |
Other Witnesses | Any Witness who is not the focus of the report section. |
Role Variables – refer to a person based on the Role they have been assigned, regardless of where they are entered in the Tag. In the tables below, the term Rolename would be replaced by the name of a Role, such as "Minister," "Heir," or even the standard Roles like "Principal" or Witness."
Subject Variables – refer to the subject of a narrative, the person whose narrative is being constructed, regardless of where they are entered or the Role they are assigned. (Not available in TMG 8)
Name Variables produce the names of people
Variable |
Result |
Example |
Principals - variables that refer to persons entered in a tag as Principals | ||
[P] |
Current Principal's full name, or a substituted pronoun | Mary Jane Smith, or She |
[P+] |
Current Principal's full name | Mary Jane Smith |
[PG] |
Current Principal's given name | Mary Jane |
[PF] |
Current Principal, first word of given name | Mary |
[PL] * |
Current Principal's last name | Smith |
[PS] |
Current Principal, possessive name | Mary Jane Smith's |
[PGS] |
Current Principal, possessive given name | Mary Jane's |
[PFS] |
Current Principal, possessive first word of given name | Mary's |
[PLS] * |
Current Principal, possessive last name | Smith's |
[PO] |
Other Principal's full name | John Edward Black |
[POG] |
Other Principal's given name | John Edward |
[POF] |
Other Principal, first word of given name | John |
[POL] * |
Other Principal's last name | Black |
[POS] |
Other Principal, possessive name | John Edward Black's |
[POGS] |
Other Principal, possessive given name | John Edward's |
[POFS] |
Other Principal, possessive first word of given name | John's |
[POLS] * |
Other Principal, possessive last name | Black's |
[P1] |
First Principal's full name | Mary Jane Smith |
[P1G] |
First Principal's given name | Mary Jane |
[P1F] |
First Principal, first word of given name | Mary |
[P1L] * |
First Principal's last name | Smith |
[P1S] |
First Principal, possessive name | Mary Jane Smith's |
[P1GS] |
First Principal, possessive given name | Mary Jane's |
[P1FS] |
First Principal, possessive first word of given name | Mary's |
[P1LS] * |
First Principal, possessive last name | Smith's |
[P2] |
Second Principal's full name | John Edward Black |
[P2G] |
Second Principal's given name | John Edward |
[P2F] |
Second Principal, first word of given name | John |
[P2L] * |
Second Principal's last name | Black |
[P2S] |
Second Principal, possessive name | John Edward Black's |
[P2GS] |
Second Principal, possessive given name | John Edward's |
[P2FS] |
Second Principal, possessive first word of given name | John's |
[P2LS] * |
Second Principal, possessive last name | Black's |
Witnesses - variables that refer to persons entered in a tag as Witnesses | ||
[W] |
Current Witness' name, or a substituted pronoun | Tom Jones, or He |
[W+] |
Current Witness' name | Tom Jones |
[WO] |
Other Witnesses' name(s) | May Jones, Sue Jones, and Fred Jones |
Subjects - variables that refer to the person who is the subject of a narrative, whether entered as Principals or as Witnesses | ||
[S] * |
Subject's full name, or a substituted pronoun | Mary Jane Smith, or She |
[S+] * |
Subject's full name | Mary Jane Smith |
[SG] * |
Subject's given name | Mary Jane |
[SF] * |
Subject, first word of given name | Mary |
[SL] * |
Subject's last name | Smith |
[SS] * |
Subject, possessive name | Mary Jane Smith's |
[SGS] * |
Subject, possessive given name | Mary Jane's |
[SFS] * |
Subject, possessive first word of given name | Mary's |
[SLS] * |
Subject, possessive last name | Smith's |
Roles - variables that refer to persons by Role, whether entered as Principals or as Witnesses, whether they are the subject or not | |||||
[R:Rolename] |
Full name of the person(s) in the role, or a substituted pronoun | John Edward Black, or He, or May Ellen Jones, Sue Mary Jones, and Fred Adam Jones | |||
[R+:Rolename] |
Full name of the person(s) in the role | John Edward Black, or May Ellen Jones, Sue Mary Jones, and Fred Adam Jones | |||
[RG:Rolename] |
Given name of the person(s) in the role | John Edward, or May Ellen, Sue Mary, and Fred Adam | |||
[RF:Rolename] |
First name of the person(s) in the role | John, or May, Sue, and Fred | |||
[RL:Rolename] * |
Last name of the person(s) in the role | Black, or Jones, Jones, and Jones | |||
|
* Not available in TMG 8
Parents Variables create the name of a person's parents.
Variable |
Result |
Example |
|||
[PAR] |
Current Principal's Parents | , son of Tom Jones and Mary Smith | |||
[PARO] |
Other Principal's Parents | , daughter of Robert White and Martha Royal | |||
[PAR1] |
First Principal's Parents names | , son of Tom Jones and Mary Smith | |||
[PAR2] |
Second Principal's Parents names | , daughter of Robert White and Martha Royal | |||
[SPAR] * |
Subject's Parents | , son of Tom Jones and Mary Smith | |||
[FATH] |
Father of the current principal | Tom Jones | |||
[MOTH] |
Mother of the current principal | Mary Smith | |||
[FATHO] |
Father of the other principal | Robert White | |||
[MOTHO] |
Mother of the other principal | Martha Royal | |||
[SFATH] * |
Subject's Father | Tom Jones | |||
[SMOTH] * |
Subject's Mother | Mary Smith | |||
[RPAR:Rolename] | Parents of person in the role | , son of Tom Jones and Mary Smith | |||
|
* Not available in TMG 8
Pronoun Variables produce pronouns for people.
Variable |
Result |
Example |
[PP] |
Possessive pronoun for the current principal | His, or Her |
[OBJ] |
Objective pronoun for the current principal | Him, or Her |
[SP] * |
Nominative pronoun for the subject | He, or She |
[SPP] * |
Possessive pronoun for the subject | His or Her |
[SM] * |
Objective pronoun for the subject | Him or Her |
[RP:Rolename] |
Nominative pronoun for the person(s) in the role | He, She, or They |
[RS:Rolename] |
Possessive pronoun for the person(s) in the role | His, Her, or Their |
[RM:Rolename] |
Objective pronoun for the person(s) in the role | Him, Her, or Them |
* Not available in TMG 8
Date Variables refer to the date field.
Variable |
Result |
Example |
|||
[D] |
Date | 2 Feb 1923 | |||
[DD] |
Date including the day of the week | Fri. 2 Feb 1923 | |||
[Y] |
Year | 1923 | |||
|
Age Variables produce the ages of people.
Variable |
Result |
Example |
|||
[A] |
Age of the current principal in years | at age 78 | |||
[AE] |
Age of current principal in years, months, and days | at age 78 years, 3 months, 5 days | |||
[AO] |
Age of the other principal in years | at age 62 | |||
[AOE] |
Age of the other principal in years, months, and days | at age 62 years, 4 months, 12 days | |||
[A1] |
Age of the first principal in years | at age 78 | |||
[A1E] |
Age of first principal in years, months, and days | at age 78 years, 3 months, 5 days | |||
[A2] |
Age of the second principal in years | at age 62 | |||
[A2E] |
Age of second principal in years, months, and days | at age 62 years, 4 months, 12 days | |||
[SA] * |
Age of the subject in years | at age 78 | |||
[SE] * |
Age of subject in years, months, and days | at age 78 years, 3 months, 5 days | |||
[RA:Rolename] |
Age of the person(s) in the role in years | at age 78 | |||
[RE:Rolename] |
Age of the person(s) in the role in years, months, and days | at age 78 years, 3 months, 5 days | |||
|
* Not available in TMG 8
Location Variables refer to the location fields.
Variable |
Result |
|||
[L] |
Place data (all fields, as specified by Place Style or report options) |
|||
[L1] or [LA] or [ADDRESSEE] |
Addressee field | |||
[L2] or [LD] or [DETAIL] |
Detail field | |||
[L3] or [LCI] or [CITY] |
City field | |||
[L4] or [LCN] or [COUNTY] |
County field | |||
[L5] or [LS] or [STATE] |
State field | |||
[L6] or [LCR] or [COUNTRY] |
Country field | |||
[L7] or [LZ] or [ZIP] |
Postal Code field | |||
[L8] or [LL] or [LATLONG] |
Latitude - Longitude field | |||
[L9] or [LP] or [PHONE] |
Telephone field | |||
[L10] or [LT] or [TEMPLE] |
Temple field | |||
|
Memo Variables refer to Memo fields
Variable |
Result |
|||
[M] |
The Memo field | |||
[M1]...[M9] |
Segments of a split Memo | |||
[WM] |
The Witness Memo field | |||
[WM1]...[WM9] |
Segments of a split Witness Memo | |||
<[M0]> |
Forces a Memo field to not print | |||
|
Variable |
Result |
[P] |
Current Principal's primary name |
[N] |
Name of the current principal in the current tag |
[PP] |
Possessive Pronoun for the Current Principal |
[OBJ] |
Objective Pronoun for the Current Principal |
[D] |
Date |
[M] |
The Memo field |
[M1]...[M9] |
Segments of a split Memo |
<[M0]> |
Forces a Memo field to not print |
There are several special characters used in Sentences to control how the variables are interpreted or otherwise control the output in narratives. They include:
Character |
Result |
Example |
|||
< > |
Called "Conditional Brackets" - they tell TMG to ignore whatever is inside the brackets if the referenced field is empty. If the brackets are not used, and the referenced field is empty, a term like "an unknown value" will appear in the output. | <with [WO]> | |||
|
|||||
| |
Allows different wording when there is a second Principal in the tag. The text before the bar is used if there is only one Principal, and that after is used instead if there is a second Principal. | [P] <was|and [PO] were> | |||
|| |
Allows for different Sentences to be used if the focus person his living or not, as marked with the Living Flag (values of Y and ? are considered living). The part before the double bars is used if the person is not living, and the part afterwards if they are. | [P] was living <[L]>||[P] is living <[L]> | |||
|
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\ |
Allows characters that have special meaning to TMG, such as the three listed above, -, [, ], {, }, or \, to be interpreted as ordinary text and be output as entered. | \- [M] | |||
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[+] |
Joins the output of one Tag to that of the preceding one. | [+] and was buried <[D]> <[L]> | |||
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[:NP:] |
Suppresses automatic management of end-of-sentence punctuation. | The following were listed:[:NP:] | |||
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[:NoBirthPlaces:] |
Suppresses the list of display of birth places in the list of children in a Journal report. | The children of [P] and [PO]<, all born in [L],[:NoBirthPlaces:]> were as follows: | |||
[:NONE:] |
Suppresses the "children" statement in a Journal report entirely. | [:NONE:] | |||
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