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NNTP-Posting-Date: Sun, 16 Aug 2009 12:51:13 -0500
From: Bob Cunningham <exw6sxq@earthlink.net>
Newsgroups: alt.languages.english
Subject: Re: a weird sentence
Date: Sun, 16 Aug 2009 10:51:06 -0700
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On Sun, 16 Aug 2009 14:25:27 +0200, Einde O'Callaghan
<eindeoc@freenet.de> wrote:
>sky blue wrote:
>> Q: When a bookstore sells a textbook on credit is its earnings process
>> complete?
>>
>>
>> Can anyone tell me what this question is asking?
>> The structure of this sentence looks weird to me; I can't make any sense
>> out of it
>> especially when I see the way the answer is given.
>>
>> The answer to that question is:
>> A: The bookstore can record sales for these books minus an amount
>> expected for returns.
>>
>> This seems like a weird way to answer a "WHEN" question, without
>> answering "when".
>
>This isn't a "when question - when introduces a subordinate time clause.
>The sentence can be reformulated: "Is a bookstore's earnings process
>complete when it sells a textbook on credit?"
>
>So it's actually a "Yes/No" style question.
That's true, of course, but the sentence can be construed to be
ambiguous. The "when" can be taken to mean "while", so the sentence
as written can convey the question "Is a bookstore's earnings process
complete during the time that it is selling a textbook on credit?"
The apparently intended question can be conveyed less ambiguously by
writing "Is a bookstore's earnings process complete after it has sold
a textbook on credit?"
Come to think of it, the "when" can be retained while the ambiguity is
removed by changing the tense of "sell": "Is a bookstore's earnings
process complete when it has sold a textbook on credit?"
--
Bob Cunningham, Southern California, USA. Western American English
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