I find the following very useful and simple.
( BTW $output is a parameter)

xml:

John <alt executive="is creating" other="has created" another="will create"/> 
a new product.

xsl:

   <xsl:template match="alt"> 
     <xsl:value-of select="@*[name()=$output]"/> 
   </xsl:template> 

But I cannot put any markup in the content, like if I want
John <i> will</i> create a new product.

Any suggestions?

-- 
Eric Smith - currently using xalan and xsltproc - what a difference speed makes - and fop on
 linux

 XSL-List info and archive:  http://www.mulberrytech.com/xsl/xsl-list