From owner-freebsd-chat@FreeBSD.ORG Fri May 30 15:16:21 2003 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-chat@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.FreeBSD.org (mx1.freebsd.org [216.136.204.125]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 09CEC37B401 for ; Fri, 30 May 2003 15:16:21 -0700 (PDT) Received: from wopr.caltech.edu (wopr.caltech.edu [131.215.103.10]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 7904A43F75 for ; Fri, 30 May 2003 15:16:20 -0700 (PDT) (envelope-from mph@wopr.caltech.edu) Received: from wopr.caltech.edu (localhost.caltech.edu [127.0.0.1]) by wopr.caltech.edu (8.12.9/8.12.8) with ESMTP id h4UMGKb9041745; Fri, 30 May 2003 15:16:20 -0700 (PDT) (envelope-from mph@wopr.caltech.edu) Received: (from mph@localhost) by wopr.caltech.edu (8.12.9/8.12.3/Submit) id h4UMGJGg041744; Fri, 30 May 2003 15:16:19 -0700 (PDT) Date: Fri, 30 May 2003 15:16:19 -0700 From: Matthew Hunt To: Sue Blake , chat@freebsd.org Message-ID: <20030530221619.GA41668@wopr.caltech.edu> References: <3ECD3A8C.1040506@potentialtech.com> <00ae01c32668$2ff5ad70$2441d5cc@nitanjared> <20030531072026.O33085@welearn.com.au> <20030530213625.GA41089@wopr.caltech.edu> <20030531080645.Q33085@welearn.com.au> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Disposition: inline In-Reply-To: <20030531080645.Q33085@welearn.com.au> User-Agent: Mutt/1.5.1i Subject: Re: grammar X-BeenThere: freebsd-chat@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.1 Precedence: list List-Id: Non technical items related to the community List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Fri, 30 May 2003 22:16:21 -0000 On Sat, May 31, 2003 at 08:06:45AM +1000, Sue Blake wrote: > 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. I suppose I would read it the same way, although the sentence strikes me as odd for some reason. I can't remember ever coming across a written instruction in the "In case X do Y" format, and evidently there's a good reason people don't write that way. I think it's because of the "In case" being at the start of the sentence instead of the end, but I can't put my finger on it. Do you know the national origin of this documentation? Was it generally satisfactory otherwise? I'm wondering if it was written by a non-native speaker. -- Matthew Hunt * Stay close to the Vorlon. http://www.pobox.com/~mph/ *