Wiki page unless changed
Jorge "LlambÃas" wrote:
>In Spanish, the equivalent construct "X a menos que Y",
>always requires Y to be put in the subjunctive mood.
>
>I'm not convinced "unless" can be a purely truth
>conditional OR. I don't want to say that
>"I am mortal, unless you are mortal" is true,
>even though "I am mortal OR you are mortal" is.
>
>"Unless" would seem to require its complement to be
>either false or very unlikely/exceptional.
>
>
Why? Sure, you *can* use "unless" that way. But it's also quite
commonly used to mean "if not..."
There'll be a game on Thursday, unless it rains. (not necessarily very
unlikely!)
Fill out form XJ912/3 unless you have already filed waiver 99234.
(perfectly likely)
other examples abound. I don't see extreme unlikeliness any more
implied in "unless" than it is in "if".
~mark