On Sat, Oct 17, 2009 at 05:36:43PM -0400, PJ wrote: > Bob Hall wrote: > > On Sat, Oct 17, 2009 at 02:34:40AM +0000, Mark wrote: > > > >> Actually, this has got very little to do with being a native English > >> speaker or not. It's ere a matter of intonation (which, in writing, can > >> only be conveyed to a certain degree, of course). 'Should' can certainly > >> mean "Don't try that." As in: > >> > >> Will the ice hold me? > >> Well, technically it should. > >> > >> (Meaning: it probably will, but I'm not overly confident.) > >> > > > > Actually, what's happening here is dropping part of a sentence. It's > > common in English to shorten > > Yea, it should work, but it doesn't. > > > Absolutely not! There is nothing to suggest either statement above. If > one says it should work, it can mean (of course, it changes within > different contexts) that all is ok and normal conditions (whatever they > may be) will allow things to function correctly. There is certainly no > implication about confidence... where do you get that?
>From common English usage. _______________________________________________ freebsd-questions@freebsd.org mailing list http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions To unsubscribe, send any mail to "freebsd-questions-unsubscr...@freebsd.org"
