ECO Tags

Many genealogists use a database program to organize and print their researched data. Many of these are now turning to The Master Genealogist (TMG) as their program of choice. TMG is a full-featured program at the leading edge of the field. A very flexible program, it allow the printing of many different reports -- the Individual Narrative being just one of these. Many users of TMG have asked what Sentences Structures were used to create the report and this is the reason for this page. If you use TMG, you will understand the following (or at least be able to follow it). If you are not familiar with TMG, you ought to give it a try (other pages here tell about the program.

Anyway, these are the tags I used. Those tags noted with "Default" indicate the use of the globally-assigned Sentence Structure for that tag -- about a third of them. About another third of the tags have been altered by adding Carriage Return codes the default Sentence Structures for paragraphing purposes. Thus the majority of the tags use the default Sentence Structure. Of the remaining changed Sentences, most were changed for variety to make the narrative less monotonous and to make the narrative flow more smoothly.

Birth *		[P] was born <[D]> <[L]>, [:NP:]
Education *		[+][M] <[D]> <[L]>
Census	W	Default
Death	W	[RS:WITNESS] father died <[D]> when [R:WITNESS] was [RA:WITNESS] years old
Residence	W	<[D], >[RS:WITNESS] [WM1], [P] [M] to [L], where [RF:WITNESS] <[WM2]>
Occupation		[:CR:][:CR:][M1], [P] was [M2] <[L]>
Census	W	[W] was enumerated with [WM], [P1] <and [P2]> in the < [D]> census <of [L]>
Employment *		[P] <was\|and [PO] were> employed <[D]> <by [M]> <[L]>
Note		[PF] [M] <[D]> <[L]>
Occupation *		[M1], [P] [M2] <[D]> <[L]>
Marriage *		[P] married [PO] <[PARO]> <[M]> <[D]> <[L]> <in a service performed by [R:MINISTER]>
Anecdote		[:CR:][:CR:][M1], [P] [M2]
Residence		[:CR:][:CR:][P] <\|and [PO]> [M] <[L]> <[D]>[:NP:]
Note *		[+] [M1] [P] <[D]> [M2] <the [DETAIL]> [M3]. [M4]
Note		[M1] [P] [M2] <of [D]> <for the [DETAIL]> <of [L]> [M3]
Elected		[M1], <IN [D]>, he <was\|and [PO] were> ELECTED <[M2]> <of [L]>, [M3]
Anecdote *		[:CR:][:CR:][P] [M1], [R:WITNESS][M2] [D] [M3]
Census *		[P+] and his family <[L]> where they were enumerated in the census <of [D]>
Elected *		[:CR:][:CR:][P] <was\|and [PO] were> elected <[M]> <[D]> <for the [L]> [DETAIL], [:NP:]
Residence		[+] [M] <[D]> <to [L]>
Occupation		[P] [M] <[D]>, [:NP:]
Elected *		[+] and was re-elected <[M1]> <[D]> <[M2]> [DETAIL] <of [L]>
Census		[P] and his family appeared on the census <of [D]> <[L]>
Census		[M1] appeared on the [D] census <[L]> [M2]
Note		[:CR:][:CR:][P] [M1] <of [L]> <[M2]> <of [D],> [M3]
Occupation		[M1], he [M2] <[D]> <[L]>
Anecdote		[:CR:][:CR:][P] [M]
Census		[:CR:][:CR:][P] <\|and [PO]> appeared on the < [D]> census <[L]>
Census		[P] <\|AND [PO]> appeared on the [L] census <of [D]>
Divorce *		Default
Marriage *		Default
Occupation		<[D]>, [P] was [M] <of [L]>
Note		[:CR:][:CR:][M]
Residence *		<[M]> <[D]>, he resided <[L]> having purchased [DETAIL]
Note		[:CR:][:CR:]<[D], >[M]
Note		[M1] [P] <[D]> <at [L]>
Death *		[P] died <[D]> <[L]> <[A]>, [:NP:]
Burial *		[+] and was buried <[D]> <[L]>
Note		[:CR:][:CR:][M1] [P] [M2] <[D]> <[L]> [M3]

Some Customized Sentences were not changed much. Many changes are only a re-arrangement of the Variables so that the narrative does not sound so repetitive. Other changes are just to create a paragraph break, or to make two sentences into one. So there's nothing complicated about Sentences. Basically, just try a Sentence and see what it looks like in a report. If you like the result, fine. But if you don't like the result, just change the Sentence and try again. The first few may take a few tries, but after that most of your attempts will work in just one or two tries.