If the sports meet will be held depends on the weather.

[angliholic]

If the sports meet will be held depends on the weather.




Does the above read well to you? If not, why not? Thanks.

[Anglika]

Whether the sports meeting is held will depend on the weather.

[angliholic]

Thanks, Anglika.
But I wonder why the base sentence doesn't work. Could you dig up a reason?

[BobK]

Thanks, Anglika.
But I wonder why the base sentence doesn't work. Could you dig up a reason?

Several reasons. The main two, I'd say, are these:

• * 'if' is ambiguous (syntactically), whereas 'whether' (in Anglika's version) clearly signals that 'whether the sports meeting is held' is a subordinate clause.
  * 'meet' is ambiguous (semantically); it could (in fact does more often than not) have a verbal meaning.

These two ambiguities, occurring in the first four words, make the original sentence hard to parse.

b

[angliholic]

Several reasons. The main two, I'd say, are these:

• * 'if' is ambiguous (syntactically), whereas 'whether' (in Anglika's version) clearly signals that 'whether the sports meeting is held' is a subordinate clause.
  * 'meet' is ambiguous (semantically); it could (in fact does more often than not) have a verbal meaning.

These two ambiguities, occurring in the first four words, make the original sentence hard to parse.

b

Thanks, Bobk.
By the way, what does "a verbal meaning" refer to?

[BobK]

Thanks, Bobk.
By the way, what does "a verbal meaning" refer to?

I was referring to the verb 'meet'. (Not very well expressed, I know... )

b

[angliholic]

Thanks, Bobk.

[RonBee]

You could say:

Whether the track meet will be held depends on the weather.

(As far as I know, "sports meet" isn't used.)

~R

[angliholic]

You could say:

Whether the track meet will be held depends on the weather.

(As far as I know, "sports meet" isn't used.)

~R

Thanks, Ron.
It's really confusing to know that "the track meet" does work, while the sports meet doesn't. Is there a rule or guideline to use "meet" and "meeting?"

[RonBee]

Thanks, Ron.
It's really confusing to know that "the track meet" does work, while the sports meet doesn't. Is there a rule or guideline to use "meet" and "meeting?"

I don't know about a rule, but I know that track meets have been around for a long time. They have runs of various lenghts (100 meters, 1000 meters, 5000 meters) and events like high jump, long jump, discus, and shot put.

~R