Mis-aligned free translations in gb4e

Question

When there is an example with a number more than three digits, the free translation line is too far to the left in gb4e examples.

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{gb4e,cgloss4e}
\begin{document}

    \begin{exe}
        \exi{(10.159)} \gll    b\'u \`a k\H{o} k\`am t\`aha k\'{\i}    \\
            cl2 {\sc ds} (b)hold (a)break (a)scatter cl7      \\
    \glt    ``They broke it off.'' (Missong)
    \z
\end{document}

Has anyone dealt with this problem before?

Answer 1

From the gb4e- documentation:

All example-list commands have an optional argument which allows you to set the labelwidth to, e.g., the widest label to come (...). So, \begin{exe}[(234)] will set the labelwidth to the width of “(234)”—which is also the default. (...) The default labelwidth for the exe- environment can also be changed globally by issuing a \exewidth{<string>} command in the preamble of your document

So, for your example, both of the following work (I also suggest to use small-caps as already demonstrated by Adam in his answer, as well as separate the language name from the translation with \hfill unless explicitly required otherwise):

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{gb4e,cgloss4e}
\begin{document}

    \begin{exe}[(10.159)]
        \exi{(10.159)} \gll    b\'u \`a k\H{o} k\`am t\`aha k\'{\i}    \\
            \textsc{cl}2 \textsc{ds} (\textsc{b})hold (\textsc{a})break (\textsc{a})scatter \textsc{cl}7      \\
    \glt    ``They broke it off.'' \hfill (Missong)
    \z
\end{document}

or

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{gb4e,cgloss4e}
    \exewidth{(10.159)}
\begin{document}

    \begin{exe}
        \exi{(10.159)} \gll    b\'u \`a k\H{o} k\`am t\`aha k\'{\i}    \\
            \textsc{cl}2 \textsc{ds} (\textsc{b})hold (\textsc{a})break (\textsc{a})scatter \textsc{cl}7  \\
    \glt    ``They broke it off.'' \hfill (Missong)\\
    \z
\end{document}

Answer 2

This is a bit of a hack, but you can achieve the output that you want by adding the translation line as an unnumbered example with the optional judgment argument empty:

\documentclass{article}

\usepackage{gb4e}

\begin{document}

\begin{exe}

\exi{(10.159)}{\label{exArgStructAb60e2}
\gll    b\'u \`a k\H{o} k\`am t\`aha k\'{\i} \\
        \textsc{cl}2 \textsc{ds} (\textsc{b})hold (\textsc{a})break (\textsc{a})scatter \textsc{cl}7 \\}
\sn[]{``They broke it off.'' (Missong)}

\end{exe}

\end{document}

And, if, for whatever reason you need the main example to have a judgment, you can also use this approach, which is another hack, more than anything:

\begin{exe}

\exi{(10.159)}[*]{\label{exArgStructAb60e2}
\gll    b\'u \`a k\H{o} k\`am t\`aha k\'{\i} \\
        \textsc{cl}2 \textsc{ds} (\textsc{b})hold (\textsc{a})break (\textsc{a})scatter \textsc{cl}7 \\}
\sn[\hphantom{000*}]{``They broke it off.'' (Missong)}

\end{exe}