Date: Sun, 1 Jun 2003 13:25:41 +0200 From: calvin8@t-online.de (Andi Scharfstein) To: Tim Vanderhoek <t.vanderhoek@utoronto.ca> Cc: chat@freebsd.org Subject: Re: grammar Message-ID: <163227373843.20030601132541@myrealbox.com> In-Reply-To: <20030601060733.GA31655@turquoise> References: <3ECD3A8C.1040506@potentialtech.com> <00ae01c32668$2ff5ad70$2441d5cc@nitanjared> <20030531072026.O33085@welearn.com.au> <20030530213625.GA41089@wopr.caltech.edu> <qvsmqvnjtq.mqv@localhost.localdomain> <20030601113948.G33085@welearn.com.au> <20030601060733.GA31655@turquoise>
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Hi, > On Sun, Jun 01, 2003 at 04:13:29AM +0200, Andi Scharfstein wrote: > [...] >> encountering this thread. I also spoke with a few people today, two of >> which had spent a year in the US. They all agreed that the meaning of >> "In case X, do Y" (that's what I asked, verbatim) was "If X occurs, do >> Y", so it's not just me. > You need to be careful how you ask that question. I, as a native North > American English speaker, would have to accept both meanings as almost > equally valid. However, depending on how you asked the question, I > might not give that as my answer... Well, that certainly was a well thought-out and detailed explanation, to which I can only say that I fully agree. Only, like I said, I didn't know about the distinction you both pointed out prior to encountering this thread, so there's your problem. About biasing people towards what I want to hear from them: All I asked them was to translate the above quote. As in: "We have a discussion on a ML I'm on, I'd like to hear your opinion about it. How would you translate 'In case X, do Y' to German?" The reason I chose that phrase was that it was the original one that set off this discussion. On an afterthought, I should also have asked them about the various cases you pointed out. Oh well. -- Bye: Andi S. mailto:nullpointer@myrealbox.com
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