Plurals.t is a utility for TADS that allows for objects that the game will
treat as grammatically plural, such as "scissors" or "pants" in its standard
error messages. The following files make up the Plurals package:

- README.TXT      this file
- PLURALS.T       the utility
- PLURTEST.T   a demonstration of the utility

To compile either plurals.t and plurtest.t, you will need TADS 2.2.

Note there have been some fixes since the XYZZY article and the very first
posting of this utility (late August '96). The first posting especially left
out a good section of the proper code near the end, so if you've downloaded
it around that time, be sure to use this version.

Most of the information you need to know is in the comments at the beginning
of plurals.t. You can also look for my article in XYZZY issue number 10 under:

ftp://ftp.gmd.de/if-archive/magazines/XYZZYnews/

and either

XYZZY10.PDF

or, for all text,

XYZZY10.TXT

This explains some of the process of coding this and figuring out what needed
to be coded. Though technical-sounding, it actually glosses over quite a bit,
so be sure to look over the code.

Last programming note: Plurals.t can be #included in any game, but then if you
use the modify or replace commands to override any of ADV.t's routines *after*
you include the utility, you may delete portions of plurals.t's code. It's
probably better if you want to use plurals.t in a complicated game to paste
the entire utility in your program as a starting point, then fiddle with it
there.

Be sure to drop me a line if you use this. My e-mail address is:

byzantium@tuna.net

My real address is:

Andrew Pontious
274 West 19th St. 6B
New York, NY 10011

Any feedback would be appreciated, whether suggestions, bug fixes, or general
comments. This is all part of a larger game, and I hope to include some of its
other TADS "improvements" at a later date.

9/20/96
Andrew Pontious