3 ms·
Using the present tense to answer a past-tense question is hardly unambiguous. "Did you send an email to Fred?" -- "No, I'm not sending an email to Fred" doesn
by ninth_ant 3y ago
Using the present tense to answer a past-tense question is hardly unambiguous.
"Did you send an email to Fred?" -- "No, I'm not sending an email to Fred" doesn't answer the question.
It's not a "conspiracy theory" to have realized that big corps have teams of people to frame their public statements with carefully chosen words to present issues in the best light for them, even if it's deeply misleading.
- radarsat1 3y ago> "Did you send an email to Fred?" -- "No, I'm not sending an email to Fred" To me this unambiguously says both that I did not send an email to him and I don't intend to. Is it really ambiguous to you?
- nkrisc 3y agoThe given response very clearly and unambiguously does not answer the given question. I think most native English speakers - if they were reading/listening carefully - would interpret the mismatch of verb tense as an intentional attempt at not answering the question while simultaneously sounding as if it does. If someone gave me that answer to that question I would repeat the question to them with an emphasis on “did.”
- ForHackernews 3y agoYou're not a corporate comms person. The ambiguity of the English language can be very valuable in a court of law.
- hdjjhhvvhga 3y agoIt depends if you are a person or a corporation. If the former, I assume you haven't. If the latter, I assume you did but don't want it to sound bad.
- pyrale 3y agoIf you said that, maybe. If a corporate PR expert or a politician said that, the conclusion would be very different.
- radarsat1 3y agoI'll be honest I'm a bit surprised at the responses here. I get what you're saying about the verb tenses, but the first word in the answer is clearly "No" in answer to the question.