Date: Fri, 30 May 2003 23:10:46 -0400 From: mjeays2551 <mjeays2551@rogers.com> To: Sue Blake <sue@welearn.com.au> Cc: chat@freebsd.org Subject: Re: grammar Message-ID: <3ED81D36.4030409@rogers.com> References: <3ECD3A8C.1040506@potentialtech.com> <00ae01c32668$2ff5ad70$2441d5cc@nitanjared> <20030531072026.O33085@welearn.com.au> <20030530213625.GA41089@wopr.caltech.edu> <20030531080645.Q33085@welearn.com.au>
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Sue Blake wrote: >On Fri, May 30, 2003 at 02:36:25PM -0700, Matthew Hunt wrote: > > >>On Sat, May 31, 2003 at 07:20:26AM +1000, Sue Blake wrote: >> >> >> >>>Recently I provided some IT staff with the documentation for a >>>new piece of software. Many times it said things like "In case >>>Foo, do Bar". The users (correctly in my view) read that as >>>advice of a precaution worth taking, and took it. >>> >>> >>Could this be a .us-vs-.au issue? >> >> > >Possibly. If so, I wonder which way the rest of the world goes. > > > >>Here in the US, at least, it is >>common for fire alarms to have instructions like "In case of fire, pull >>handle." >> >> > >We had signs like that here for a while, and they were strictly >speaking correct for our language. The presence of "of" changes >the meaning and makes it clear, at least to someone in a calm >state who can stop and process language patterns that are not >part of every day speech (i.e. only found on emergency signs). >Comedians had a field day with people pulling handles, smashing >glass windows, etc, just in case the disaster might happen. >But I agree, that usage is correct by my language. The phrase >"in case of" and the phrase "in case" have very different meanings. > > > >>And I interpreted your examples the way the author intended, >>although I understand the ambiguity. Certainly mothers here will >>tell their kids to carry sweaters "in case it cools off." >> >> > >Yes it's the same here. In Strine that would be: "Take your jumper >with you in case it gets cold". The mother expects the kid to >pick up the item right away and take it with them, despite the heat. >She does not expect them to come home and pick it up later IF >it gets cold. No, they take it anyway, IN CASE it gets cold. > >Tell me, how would you follow the following (hypothetical) instruction? > > In case you run out of memory, don't run all of the programs together. > >Is it something to do as a precaution, or a response to take when >an unlikely situation occurs? I would read it as a precaution and >make a workplace rule that we must follow it. > >Now if it said > > If you run out of memory, don't run all of the programs together. > >would the meaning be different? I believe so. >If it is intended to mean the same thing, what would be the reason >for avoiding the word "if"? > > > > Perhaps better rephrased as "To avoid running out of memory, don't run all the programs together". Even that sounds strange; so how about "To avoid running out of memory, run the programs separately".
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