Kuba Ober wrote:
>> You should read better:
>> >> > Actually, it's grammatically incorect (read poor use of the
>> >> > subjunctive) and should be
>> >> > if position x,y were contained in box
>> >> > So nuh!
>>
>> This is all about using the subjunctive in a conditional C++ sentence!
>
> Okay, call me lame and ignorant, but what's wrong with
>
> if box contains position x,y
>
> I hope somebody can explain that so that somebody who knows not much more
> besides his spelling can understand :) During my formal English training I
> was definitely straying from latin-rooted linguistic terms :)
There's nothing wrong with it. That's what it should be. In fact...
I've just made the change ;-)
Summary:
These statements are indicative. They describe an actuality:
if box contains position x,y.
if position x,y is contained by box.
This one, however, describes a possible, hypothetical case and so we use the
subjunctive:
if position x,y were contained by box then the code would be incorrect.
It is more commonly written and spoken so (probably incorrectly but, hey,
English is an evolving language!)
if position x,y was contained by box then the code would be incorrect.
hence John's comment about 'was' indicating the past tense. In this case he
was wrong. Well, he was probably wrong. ;-)
All clear now?
--
Angus
