Re: Re: Clarity of Orders

Not always and not in all cases. Which is the point of asking.



Stephen Worthy wrote:
> Both are ambiguous despite linguistic issues, simply because people 
> have been arguing both cases.
> 
> This is why I e-mail players to clarify these things.  Perhaps you'd 
> have time to do that?
> 
> Stephen
> 
> --- In [email protected], "David E. Cohen" <zendip18@o...> 
> wrote:
> 
>>I was leaning that way before, and on reflection I have 
> 
> concluded "to 
> 
>>supports" is just ambiguous, both grammatically and dip-wise.  I  
> 
> would say 
> 
>>that "to support", on the other hand, is not, and can be part of a 
> 
> valid 
> 
>>support order.
>>
>>----- Original Message ----- 
>>From: "Michael D. Ashland" <warlord@m...>
>>To: <[email protected]>
>>Sent: Friday, July 22, 2005 10:19 PM
>>Subject: Re: [CAT23-GM] Clarity of Orders
>>
>>
>>
>>>Adam,
>>>
>>>Is English your first language? It may not be for the player in
>>>question, and the "s" on "supports" could be a typo. I'm not an 
> 
> English
> 
>>>major by any stretch of the imagination, and only Libby knows 
> 
> for sure,
> 
>>>but I would not rule these orders as ambiguous unless the player 
> 
> had
> 
>>>been warned about this type of thing earlier in the game.
>>>
>>>I know there are "strict constructionists" out there, and that's 
> 
> one of
> 
>>>the reasons we like human GM's around here.
>>>
>>>And for the record, I'm not trying to determine the player's 
> 
> intent. I
> 
>>>do not care what his or her intent was. I'm taking a poorly 
> 
> written
> 
>>>order, and deciding that it only has one possible meaning, using 
> 
> just my
> 
>>>own particular brand of logic, in a case taken out of context, 
> 
> and with
> 
>>>some circumstances assumed.
>>>
>>>Regards to all,
>>>
>>>Mike A.
>>>
>>>Adam Kuehn wrote:
>>>
>>>
>>>>Michael D. Ashland wrote:
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>>You are going to get opinions both ways, but "to" is a 
> 
> preposition, not
> 
>>>>>a verb, and as such, the presence of the word "support(s)" (a 
> 
> transitive
> 
>>>>>verb in this case) in the orders would settle the question in 
> 
> my mind.
> 
>>>>>
>>>>Case 6 is an infinitive, read literally, so I can see how your
>>>>argument might hold there.  But I do not understand your 
> 
> willingness
> 
>>>>to parse the phrase "to supports" down into its components and 
> 
> then
> 
>>>>rule that "supports" is somehow more important because of which 
> 
> part
> 
>>>>of speech it represents.  By itself, "to" has a clear meaning.
>>>>("[U]sed as a function word to indicate movement", if you want 
> 
> the
> 
>>>>exact, pedantic phrase from Merriam-Webster online.)  By itself,
>>>>"supports" has an equally clear, but opposite, meaning.  Their
>>>>concatenation, "to supports", is grammatically nonsensical.
>>>>
>>>>I just don't see how the part of speech of the component words 
> 
> helps
> 
>>>>you divine the intent of the person writing the order.  I'm not
>>>>trying to be overly picky, I'm just genuinely interested in 
> 
> hearing
> 
>>>>why you think the part of speech helps, given that each word is
>>>>independently successful in conveying unambiguous meaning.
>>>>
>>>>In my view, as likely as not we are looking at a cut-and-paste 
> 
> error.
> 
>>>>The player intended one thing at first, and then tried to cut in 
> 
> the
> 
>>>>opposite thing but failed to delete the superceded material.  But
>>>>which material is to be superceded?  There's just no way to know.
>>>>
>>>>-Adam
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>Community email addresses:
>>>> Post message: [email protected]
>>>> Subscribe:    [email protected]
>>>> Unsubscribe:  [email protected]
>>>> List owner:   [email protected]
>>>>
>>>>Shortcut URL to this page:
>>>> http://www.onelist.com/community/CAT23-GM
>>>>Yahoo! Groups Links
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>Community email addresses:
>>> Post message: [email protected]
>>> Subscribe:    [email protected]
>>> Unsubscribe:  [email protected]
>>> List owner:   [email protected]
>>>
>>>Shortcut URL to this page:
>>> http://www.onelist.com/community/CAT23-GM
>>>Yahoo! Groups Links
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Community email addresses:
>   Post message: [email protected]
>   Subscribe:    [email protected]
>   Unsubscribe:  [email protected]
>   List owner:   [email protected]
> 
> Shortcut URL to this page:
>   http://www.onelist.com/community/CAT23-GM 
> Yahoo! Groups Links
> 
> 
> 
>  
> 
> 
>