From: Jonathan Robie (jwrobie@mindspring.com)
Date: Wed Apr 30 1997 - 11:16:10 EDT
At 07:04 AM 4/30/97 -0700, Alan Repurk wrote:
>Jonathan Robie wrote:
>>
>> Jim: What are you doing tomorrow?
>> Mary: Well, I *was* going to my brother's house...
>> Jim: How would you like to go horseback riding? I have a friend who has
>> horses, and...
>
>Jonathan,
>Would it be too much of a stretch to interpret it as :
>
>Mary: Well, I *was* [thinking about | considering] going to my brother's
house...
Certainly, it could be interpreted that way, but note how context-specific
this sentence is! Compare these conversations:
Jim: What were you doing in Durham last weekend?
Mary: Well, I was going to my brother's house...
Jim: Mary! What a nice surprise! What are you doing in Durham?
Mary: Well, I was going to my brother's house...
Jim: What are you doing tomorrow?
Mary: Well, I was going to my brother's house...
Jim: How would you like to go horseback riding? I have a friend who has
horses, and...
Looking at these sentences, I think I'll go back to writing an article on
SGML databases...
Jonathan
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Jonathan Robie jwrobie@mindspring.com http://www.mindspring.com/~jwrobie
POET Software, 3207 Gibson Road, Durham, N.C., 27703 http://www.poet.com
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