UNLESS Usage

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abcgmat: Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts; Posts: 222; Joined: Sat Aug 27, 2011 1:06 pmFollowed by: 1 member; Thanked: 19 times

by abcgmat » Sat Oct 08, 2011 9:43 am

I sometimes get confused with unless usage.
1. I will not go there unless you come
If we infer Unless= If not

Is Conclusion: I will no got there
If you donot come, I will not go there

Logically Opposite of the above statement would be
I will go there, even if you dont come.

Is my understanding correct

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Source: Beat The GMAT — Reading Comprehension | Sat Oct 08, 2011 9:43 am

GmatKiss: Legendary Member; Posts: 2789; Joined: Tue Jul 26, 2011 12:19 amFollowed by: 43 members; Location: Chennai, India; Thanked: 206 times; GMAT Score:640

by GmatKiss » Sat Oct 08, 2011 9:59 am

abcgmat wrote:I sometimes get confused with unless usage.
1. I will not go there unless you come
If we infer Unless= If not

Is Conclusion: I will no got there
If you donot come, I will not go there

Logically Opposite of the above statement would be
I will go there, even if you dont come.

Is my understanding correct

Please post it in appropriate forum. This one should be in Sentence correction forum.

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essaysnark: Legendary Member; Posts: 795; Joined: Sun Sep 20, 2009 10:41 amFollowed by: 85 members; Thanked: 177 times

by essaysnark » Sat Oct 08, 2011 9:59 am

abcgmat, in this case a proper substitute for "unless" would be "except for the case where" -- so,

"I will not go there, except for the case that you go, and then I will."

So "unless" in this instance is indicating an exception to the rule that the base sentence is laying out.

Another way to look at it:

I will not go there - but if you come, then I will."

It's changing what I am saying I will do, provided that you do it too.

It's hard to come up with a "logically opposite" meaning to this, since it's a conditional.

The example is saying "the only case where I will go there is if you come with me."

Not sure this helps - EssaySnark agrees that it's tricky! English is not easy, is it?

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