3 ms·
I couldn't help but notice an ambiguity in the phrase > Summer temperatures drop by 1.5°C to 2.5°C While I now understand that it means a drop of roughly 2°C
by tromp 6y ago
I couldn't help but notice an ambiguity in the phrase
> Summer temperatures drop by 1.5°C to 2.5°C
While I now understand that it means a drop of roughly 2°C plus or minus 0.5°C, my initial reading was that the temperature dropped from 4°C (in the previous Summer) to 2.5°C (in Summer of 536).
Is the meaning of "a drop by A to B" always to be inferred from context?
- hnuser123456 6y agoProposing the following modification to the English language: For your interpretation: "drop by X, to Y" For author's intention: "drop by X-Y"
- carl_dr 6y agoIn the timeline on the page, it uses both uses - "Summer temperatures drop by 1.5°C to 2.5°C" and "Summer temperatures drop again by 1.4°C–2.7°C in Europe". It took a few reads and an internal debate over whether European summer temperatures could possibly have been 4°C in the 6th century to understand what the author meant.