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Originally Posted by X Mode If he's willing to kill himself, he's willing to kill us.
The sentence doesn't mean he'll kill himself first and then us, of course. He has to be willing to kill himself, then he'll be willing to kill us. First he'll kill us, and then he'll himself. What are his intentions?
That's I see this "will x 2" sentence.
However, I don't often, if at all, think of or hear "will x 2" sentences. |
Even though "will" means "willing to" here, I take it that "will" also means later, not now.
Here's another:
If he kills himself, he kills us.
In that sentence he can detonate a bomb. The speaker and his listeners are in the same room. The guy who has the bomb is somewhere in the building or in the same room as well. That's a statement of fact. Therefore, we can call it a zero conditional. It means "if this happens, that happens no matter what".
The "will x 2" statement can be considered a statement of fact, but not in the same way as my example sentence can be considered a statement of fact. Even though "will" means "willing to" here, I take it that "will" also means later, not now. Zero conditionals speak of what happens as a matter of fact, not later because one is willing to. The idea of "willingness" also places a requirement on what actually happens. The sentence means "he has to be willing to do both". So, it can't be a zero conditional. Zero conditionals refer to things that happen no matter what.