Ben Finney <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Francesco Poli <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: > > Is "I am afraid it cannot" a definite answer? > > It does not even seem to express certainty... > > (I am not a professor of English)
Clearly. > The usage of "I am afraid that <assertion>" in English has changed. [...] Rather, it has gained another, less literal, use, which may not be what Francesco intended to communicate. I would interpret it as a fear. Unless there's some survey data or something to the contrary, I suspect most other rural Englishmen would. I'm a bit old-fashioned like that, which is why newspeak like "You're forcing me to ..." looks silly to me. More generally, please cut non-native speakers some Slack about English use when it matters like this. If a German walks into your restaurant and says "Please can I become a steak?" then that is not justification for killing and butchering him. You know damn well what was meant. (The only non-native speakers who I won't cut slack are those who start preaching their interpretation of English as The One True Meaning over objections from Englishmen. ;-) ) Regards, -- MJR/slef My Opinion Only: see http://people.debian.org/~mjr/ Please follow http://www.uk.debian.org/MailingLists/#codeofconduct -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
