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That isn't an exclusive or; the English language lets that be interpreted as either an xor or or, and the reasoning of the context shows it to be an or. To ite
by Normal_gaussian 8y ago
That isn't an exclusive or; the English language lets that be interpreted as either an xor or or, and the reasoning of the context shows it to be an or.
To iterate; the statement sets out two conditions, either of which are sufficient independent of the other, and claims that each of a number of services met one of those conditions.
- icebraining 8y agoThanks, I'm not a native speaker, and I thought either/or was a xor.
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- woqe 8y agoI think there is valid confusion to be had in interpreting this statement. Usually, when a statement of "choose either x or y" is made, then the only valid options are exclusively x or exclusively y (None and Both are not valid). Though, when the statement of "if either x or y then do action" is made, then the action is done with any of three valid options: x, y, or x and y (only None is not valid). To change the second statement to mean the first, you could say "if only x or only y then do action." The "only" cancel Both as being an option.
- kbutler 8y agoNative speaker here. Either-or does imply exclusive-or, but it is often used less formally, so you will sometimes see it made explicit as "either x or y, but not both."