Make a phrase

At times, word for word adaptation of a source passage may not read well in the target language. In such cases, you may want to adapt a phrase at a time. The simplest method for making a phrase is to do the following steps:

1. Place the Phrase box under the first word of the phrase if necessary.

2. Select the words of the phrase in the source text by holding down the Alt key and pressing the Right arrow repeatedly until you selected the entire phrase. See Selecting source text for other techniques.

3. Type in the adaptation of the new phrase.

   On your first keystroke Adapt It creates a source text phrase by merging the adjacent locations. The Phrase box can then accept the rest of your typing to create your new adaptation for the phrase.

   

4. Press Enter or move the Phrase box to a new location.

   Adapt It counts the number of words in the source text phrase and then stores the new phrase into the knowledge base list for that number of words. The example would be stored in the two word phrase list.

 Tip

• You can also use the Make Phrase icon in the Tools bar to create a phrase. See Make a phrase using the make phrase icon for more information.

 Note

• To make the best use of this feature, you should attempt to use it only when the combination of words is likely to be used in other places. Generally, phrases of five or fewer words are more likely to be used than longer phrases.

• You can choose a maximum of ten words in the source text for the phrase. If you select more than ten words, Adapt It gives you a warning that it cannot store a phrase that long in the knowledge base. It then displays the Type Retranslation Text dialog. Retranslation is the only way to handle long phrases.

• If the desired phrase spans punctuation marks (other than commas) you will have to open the punctuation boundaries to select all of the words.

• If the desired phrase includes any punctuation within it, Adapt It opens a dialog box and asks you if you want to place the punctuation somewhere within the new phrase. You can do so, or you can leave the punctuation unplaced. See Placement Of Phrase-Medial Punctuation.

Related Topics

Unmake a phrase

Retranslate selected source text

Tools bar