On 4/26/2011 10:29, andrel wrote:
> On 26-4-2011 0:53, Darren New wrote:
>> On 4/25/2011 14:33, andrel wrote:
>>> Only if it is nor was at any time able to interfere in this universe. (my
>>> feeling is that this is correct English, my brain says 'huh, aren't you
>>> missing a negation', but where to put it?)
>>
>> As a native english speaker, I'd say
>>
>> "Only if it isn't nor ever was at any time able to interfere in this
>> universe."
>>
>> So, yeah, negate "is" as well. I can't say I could actually express as
>> rule why that's right, tho.
>
> for me that is strange because you than have a negated and an unnegated term
> in a (negated) disjuction.
>
> By De Morgan's law I would transform 'is nor was' into 'is not and was not'
> which is what I meant. But are ordinary natives aware of that?

You could also so

"Only if it neither is nor was at any time able to interfere."

So the "neither" means "that negation also applies to the 'is' part."

-- 
Darren New, San Diego CA, USA (PST)
   "Coding without comments is like
    driving without turn signals."

Post a reply to this message