ok, apologies to all and really, nothing serious intended :)
On Wednesday 02 June 2010 20:20:44 b(a)pad.ma wrote:
Sorry, my
English is weak ;)
not really:
you are mixing up history, physics, astrology and grammar
ill stick to grammar, since the intent of my post was to clarify the
grammar and perhaps logic of the statement 'foss.in happens at the end of
the year', and not the history, physics or astrology of the same.
happens =
simple present tense, referring to something that is 'either a
habit' or 'happens regularly'. I think it would be reasonable to
conclude
that since FOSS.in has 'happened' toward the end of the year for the
past
9 years, that it 'happens' during November / December.
History: foss.in has not 'happened' for the past 9 years - it has
'happened'
for the past 5 years - 2005 to 2009.
I will stand corrected - was perhaps confused by their website which has
event schedules that go back to 2001. My point still stands. It is an
event with noticed periodicity, hence it 'happens'.
Physics/chemistry: if an event (physical event)
happens with regularity in
fixed conditions with fixed materials, it is reasonable to predict that it
will
happen again in the same conditions with the same materials. For example I
have noticed that water freezes at 7 degrees C in my house, so it is
reasonable to expect it to do so if I put a pan of water in conditions of
7
degrees centigrade.
I guess this can be a matter of debate, but the simple present tense is
not a statement of certainty about the future - something like "he goes to
school at 9 in the morning" again is a bit different from "he will go to
school at 9 tomorrow morning". The first is based on observed habitual
behaviour, in that he goes to school, without a definitive statement about
the future, which, imo, is valid. It would be a bit ridiculous to say, "he
has gone to school at 9 in the morning for the past 9 years and so will
probably go to school at 9 tomorrow morning" instead of "he goes to school
at 9 in the morning". It is not a scientific certainty that he will go to
school at 9 in the morning, of course, but simple present tense is not
making a definitive statement about the future - it is simply saying
something 'happens' based on observed periodicity.
Astrology: if an event happening is based on the whims
of a person,
predicting
it's occurence is the subject of astrology.
Saying foss.in 'happens at the end of the year' isn't a predictive
statement - saying 'foss.in will happen at the end of this year' is. The
first is just a statement based on observed periodicity. It has nothing to
do with astrology or physics or chemistry. We can argue on what would
qualify something as being observed periodical behaviour, but the way I
see it an event running for 5 (9?) years makes it qualify as observed
periodical behaviour. This is in no way a definitive statement about the
continuation of this observed periodical behaviour.
Maybe a
statement that does not make any assumptions about the future
would read something like "foss.in has happened at the end of year for
the
past 9 years.".
5 years
sure, I apologize for my error. I think the grammatical point I was making
still stands.
Am not sure if
you violate the spirit of The Zen of Python (in the face
of
ambiguity, refuse the temptation to guess) by saying 'happens', but I
certainly don't think it would be against english grammatical rules to
say
something 'happens' if it is an observed predictable pattern of
behaviour
over a period of time, in this case, foss.in 'happening' at the end of
the
year.
this is not the subject of grammar - rather of logic
I wouldn't disagree with you necessarily on the logic part of it, nor on
the astrology or physics or chemistry part of it. I still stick to my
point about the correctness of grammar though - if something is observed
behaviour for a period of time, it is perfectly reasonable to say
something 'happens'. It doesn't have to be a certain prediction of the
future, or correct in terms of astrology, physics, chemistry, etc. for it
to be a grammatically and semantically correct statement.
Sorry for that
- awakened the grammar nazi in me.
sorry for this - awakened the stickler_for_facts Nazi in me
if we team up, we could be the greatest force since the third reich?
ok, apologies to everyone for taking this OT . shall try and refrain from
any more of this :)
cheers,
Sanjay