Re: shrivelled/shriveled


"Mike Lyle" <mike_lyle_uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
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The UnInmate wrote:
"Mike Lyle" <mike_lyle_uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
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The UnInmate wrote:
"Chuck Riggs" <chriggs@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
[...]

Good luck, but I doubt if they'd be interested.

I'd have phrased it as "doubt that they'd be interested."
Interesting usage question there.

Yes, it is. In general, I think I write "if", wondering the while if
I should be writing "that". But I seem to have a sense that the two
may convey subtly different shades of meaning: are there any takers
for that idea? OED, under (2), doesn't appear to think so: "b. with
clause, introduced by whether, if, that. (Often with but, but that,
when the main clause is negative or interrogative ..."

Any idea what the different shades of meaning are? I've always
thought that "if" belongs in a balanced sentence with a second clause
starting with "then." Similarly with "whether" and "or" although "or
not" is often silently implied.

I have no difficulty in accepting--and using--"if" with an unspoken "or
not", at least in conversation. As for an apodotic* "then", I certainly
wouldn't expect it even in writing, even in the majority of cases: "If
it's dark outside, I've woken too early."

*Yes, I have just made that up. Its noun, "apodosis", is real, of course.

--
Mike.

It's a really good adjective, Mike. I like it.

As for the "then," it tends to be elided but assumed because it still does
its labour in obscurity. I might also be thinking of "If" as used in formal
logic rather than English.


.

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