atw: Re: Not ... all
- From: "bja" <moo-man@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <austechwriter@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Fri, 9 Oct 2009 12:00:41 +1000
Hi Howard,
I agree it's worded awkwardly. I'd probably just ask the author to drop the
"all" or change "all areas" to "any area" but it has already gone out so
there is probably no point.
Cheers,
Bruce
_____
From: austechwriter-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:austechwriter-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Howard Silcock
Sent: Friday, 9 October 2009 10:26 AM
To: austechwriter@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: atw: Not ... all
An email circulated in the government department where I work says 'smoking
is not permitted in all areas of the building occupied or controlled by the
Department'. I think the intended meaning is that you mustn't smoke in any
of those areas.
Am I being pedantic if I object that you could quite accurately interpret
that as meaning just that there's at least one area where smoking isn't
permitted?
If I said, for example, 'telephones are not installed in all offices',
surely you wouldn't think I meant that none of the offices had a phone? And
isn't that a parallel example?
Howard
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