From: Steven Jenkins <steven.jenkins@...>
Date: 2005-11-24T00:24:19+09:00
Subject: Re: semenatics of if/unless/while statement modifiers

Sean E. Russell wrote:
> On Tuesday 22 November 2005 12:31, Steven Jenkins wrote:
> 
>>It's also valid English, but not what people would typcially say. If the
>>auxiliary phrase needs rhetorical emphasis, however, putting it first
>>makes sense:
> 
> 
> 	I'm going to the concert, if I can get the money.
> 
> 	I'm going to be a doctor, unless I flunk out of college.
> 
> Statements like these are not only valid, but common.  Furthermore,

Of course they are. I didn't claim otherwise. Either order is 
syntactically correct--they differ in emphasis.

> 	Hammer on that nail until it is flush
> 
> It is much less common to hear people construct that sentence as:
> 
> 	Until it is flush, hammer on that nail.

Yes. In an imperative, the emphasis is usually on, well, the imperative 
:-). But the original claim wasn't that about commonality, it was about 
validity. The latter is unquestionably valid.

> [....]
> What's really interesting is that we're debating the syntax of Ruby WRT 
> sentence structures in English and German, when the language author is a 
> native speaker of neither.

Don't forget French. We're founding the new and exciting field of 
"semenatics". Eeeewwww.

Steve