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From: Einde O'Callaghan <eindeoc@freenet.de>
Newsgroups: alt.languages.english
Subject: Re: a weird sentence
Date: Sun, 16 Aug 2009 14:25:27 +0200
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sky blue wrote:
> Q: When a bookstore sells a textbook on credit is its earnings process
> complete?
>
>
> Can anyone tell me what this question is asking?
> The structure of this sentence looks weird to me; I can't make any sense
> out of it
> especially when I see the way the answer is given.
>
>
>
> The answer to that question is:
> A: The bookstore can record sales for these books minus an amount
> expected for returns.
>
> This seems like a weird way to answer a "WHEN" question, without
> answering "when".
This isn't a "when question - when introduces a subordinate time clause.
The sentence can be reformulated: "Is a bookstore's earnings process
complete when it sells a textbook on credit?"
So it's actually a "Yes/No" style question.
Einde O'Callaghan
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