Alternately?
Hi, everyone.
Could you tell me what "alternately" means in the sentence below? And also could someone rephrase the bold sentence?
In a confidence-and-supply agreement, a smaller party agrees to support a government (usually for a set period of time) in exchange for the government's commitment to pursuing a shared list of priorities or policies.
But such an arrangement isn't always necessary. Stephen Harper's Conservatives, for instance, governed without any kind of formal agreement from 2006 to 2011, alternately winning support for legislation or daring the opposition to defeat them on a case-by-case basis.
Thanks!
Top answer
"alternately" means that "winning support for legislation" and "daring the opposition to defeat them" alternated — that is, (literally) the first of these happened, then the second, then the first again, then the second again, and so on. In practice, this alternation does not have to be exactly literal as described, just as long as sometimes one thing happened and sometimes the other.
- "alternately" means that "winning support for legislation" and "daring the opposition to defeat them" alternated — that is, (literally) the first of these happened, then the second, then the first again, then the second again, and so on.
- In practice, this alternation does not have to be exactly literal as described, just as long as sometimes one thing happened and sometimes the other.
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"alternately" means that "winning support for legislation" and "daring the opposition to defeat them" alternated — that is, (literally) the first of these happened, then the second, then the first again, then the second again, and so on. In practice, this alternation does not have to be exactly literal as described, just as long as sometimes one thing happened and sometimes the other.
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