grammar

[Matthew Hunt]

On Sat, May 31, 2003 at 08:06:45AM +1000, Sue Blake wrote:

> Tell me, how would you follow the following (hypothetical) instruction?
> 
>  In case you run out of memory, don't run all of the programs together.
> 
> Is it something to do as a precaution, or a response to take when
> an unlikely situation occurs? I would read it as a precaution and
> make a workplace rule that we must follow it.

I suppose I would read it the same way, although the sentence strikes
me as odd for some reason.  I can't remember ever coming across a written
instruction in the "In case X do Y" format, and evidently there's a good
reason people don't write that way.   I think it's because of the "In case"
being at the start of the sentence instead of the end, but I can't put my
finger on it.

Do you know the national origin of this documentation?  Was it generally
satisfactory otherwise?  I'm wondering if it was written by a non-native
speaker.

-- 
Matthew Hunt <mph at astro.caltech.edu> * Stay close to the Vorlon.
http://www.pobox.com/~mph/           *