Julianna wrote:vc
извините, что я вмешиваюсь, но вы ничего не забыли?![]()
" In the event of your failing to hand in the portfolio or of your submitting less than the required minimum work, you will receive a mark of zero for the module."
see http://www.ex.ac.uk/schools/sml/wlabroad.html
I guess, now the sentence makes sence
No, I did not forget -- I skipped the words intentionally (see the little dots at the beginning of the sentence ?) to emphasize the fact that 'your failing...' is quite a legitimate expression. My 'Your failing to do something' is just a shorthand for 'In case of your failing ...' or 'Given your failing...'.
As to my using the jargon I did in the message the previous opponent criticized so vigorously, if somewhat ineptly ... Well, I erroneously assumed I was respondimg to someone with a linguistics background, or at least to an English teacher. I sincerely apologize for my mistake.
Unfortunately, occasionally one has to use jargon (knowedge-area-specific style) and slightly unusual language precisely in order to avoid ambiguity and use only mutually agreed upon definitions. Witness an excerpt from G. Boolos' (informal ! ) response to Charles Parsons' article "Sets and Classes" :
"... There is, however, a conventional way of signalling or indicating that one is committed to each proposition[...]. In doing so, it seems to me, one need not be taken as even hinting that one is either talking about classes or utilizing a truth-predicate, and we need not take anyone who so signals a commitment to infinitely many propositions as having asserted that he is so committed. We can take him as having asserted, or at least committed himself to, all of those infinetely many propositions in virtue of having done something other than making a general assertion. [ G. Boolos, 1974]".
Of course, the whole discussion about the Past Subjunctive is of no value whatsoever to those who just want to learn some English.
Rgds.