Thread: will x 2
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Old 09-Aug-2005, 04:24
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Default Re: will x 2
Quote:
Originally Posted by MrPedantic
1. If a person has died, he is no longer alive.
4. If a person has died, he is unable to talk.

We would not restrict these examples to particular circumstances. We could use them any time, and they would still be true.

If I say to you now: 'if a person has died, he is no longer alive', you may think that I am stating the obvious (i.e. a universal law); but you're extremely unlikely to think that someone near me at this moment has indeed died.

Nor do you have to wait for someone to die to know that the statement is universally true.

Like all zero conditionals, it has something of the nature of a tautology.

MrP

I understand, but, still, with the present perfect the meaning changes. It doesn't mean "for all time and any time". It means "if it has happened and only if it has happened". No Yes

Last edited by Steven D; 09-Aug-2005 at 11:47.
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