grammar

[Terry Lambert]

"Gary W. Swearingen" wrote:
> Tim Vanderhoek <t.vanderhoek at utoronto.ca> writes:
> > (4)    Call the police in case there is an explosion.
> 
> Interesting.  I strongly disagree.  Sentence (4) tells me to call the
> police now to prepare for an explosion which only MIGHT happen.  I guess
> that's called an "idiomatic" usage, because it doesn't seem right when
> one analyzes it.  Here's a similar example in which the idiomatic meaning
> is more obvious: "Wear your jacket, in case it gets windy."  (Now THAT'S
> a precaution.)  In (4), that reading is so absurd that I know the writer
> must have meant (3) (or (5), below).

You can't put too much water in a nuclear reactor.

-- Terry