Wiki page unless changed
On Sun, Nov 14, 2004 at 09:06:49PM -0500, Mark E. Shoulson wrote:
> Jorge "Llamb??as" 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!)
Re-read what he said again: Either false *OR* exceptional.
This started because I insisted that "da'i" should be used for the
second half of the clause, because it may or may not have happened
or ever happen. PC argued, and xorxes got in to it with him.
-Robin