Meaning of Unless

Question

My work colleague sent this email today:

I spoke the other day to a lady from [company name]. She informed me that if the person's Snow profile has missing or incorrect information and they are a 3rd party/contractor and wish for the profile to be amended. This needs to be done by their manager in IRAM. This goes the same for incorrect or missing SSNs in IRAM.

Unless the user is a contractor and needs their profile updated. The manager needs to call HR.

---

That doesn't make sense. In the first paragraph, it says that the manager will have to make the request in IRAM if the user is a contractor.
In the last line, it says: (except if) the user is a contractor, the manager need to call HR.

--

My colleague is saying that "Unless" user is a contractor .... = it refers to all user who are not contractors

Who is wrong please?

Anonymous · Accepted Answer

AnonymousMy work colleague sent this email today:

Colleague means someone that you work with so, the word work, is unnecessary.

Anonymous · Answer

Thank you but that didn't answer my question. <img class='emoticon' style='Width:19px;Height:19px;' data-delaysrc='https://uat-englishforward-forums-backend.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/Emoticons/1.gif' src='https://uat-englishforward-forums-backend.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/Emoticons/1.gif' alt='Emotion: smile'/>

CalifJim · Answer

AnonymousSnow profile

I'm assuming that every time "profile" is used, it refers to the "Snow profile", whatever that is.

Anonymous3rd party/contractor

I'm assuming that every time "contractor" is used, it refers to "3rd party/contractor", whoever those people are.

Anonymousmissing or incorrect information

I'm assuming that this can be abbreviated as "faulty data" whether it's missing or incorrect, and whether it's SSN data or not.

AnonymousIRAM

I'm assuming that this is the only database concerned in this discussion, and that some contractors use it.

Anonymousif the person's Snow profile has missing or incorrect information and they are a 3rd party/contractor and wish for the profile to be amended. This needs to be done by their manager in IRAM.

Therefore, this says,

If 1) the profile on a contractor contains faulty data
and 2) the contractor wishes that faulty data on the profile to be corrected,
the contractor's manager must make the corrections to the profile (in IRAM).

AnonymousUnless the user is a contractor and needs their profile updated. The manager needs to call HR.

The grammar is faulty. The first part is not a complete sentence, though it is punctuated as such.

This is the first time that "user" shows up. Maybe this means "a user of IRAM"? Maybe it means "unless the contractor is a user" instead of "unless the user is a contractor"? If so, this part means,

But we make an exception if the contractor is a user of IRAM.

If the contractor whose data is faulty is a user (of IRAM),
1) the manager must not make the corrections to the faulty data in the contractor's profile in IRAM
2) the manager must call HR (to do it).

This last part is quite confusing, so I'm just guessing. It may not be the only interpretation that makes sense, but it is one that makes sense to me.

CJ

AlpheccaStars · Answer

AnonymousThat doesn't make sense.

I agree. Write back for clarification. Make it simple, eg.:
If the user is a contractor, who can update their profile?

Anonymous · Answer

Sorry, we have two kinds of users, employees and contractors.
-If a contractor information in his profile is incorrect and need to be corrected, the manager will have to submit an IRAM request.
-If an employee information is incorrect and need to be corrected, the manager need to call Human Resource.

Thank you very much for your help.

CalifJim · Answer

Anonymouswe have two kinds of users, employees and contractors.

Yes, I got that. That's not the problem.

AnonymousIf a contractor information in his profile is incorrect and need to be corrected, the manager will have to submit an IRAM request.

That's not what it said in your original post. It said that the manager should correct it. There was nothing about submitting a request.

AnonymousIf an employee information is incorrect and need to be corrected, the manager need to call Human Resource.

OK. What has this got to do with your original post? Your original post did not say anything about this. Maybe the original statement should have been "Unless the user is NOT a contractor".
_________________

It appears to me that you already know what has to be done in any case of data correction regardless of the weird email you got on the subject, so I'll consider the problem solved.

CJ

Anonymous · Answer

I know what need to be done in any case but I wanted to know the meaning of the word unless in the sentence:
Unless the user is a contractor and needs their profile updated. The manager needs to call HR.

Does it mean:
If the user is a contractor, the manager need to call HR

or

If the user is not a contractor, the manager need to call HR

CalifJim · Answer

Anonymousthe meaning of the word unless in the sentence:Unless the user is a contractor and needs their profile updated.

It's not a sentence. Supposing that the whole sentence is this:

Unless the user is a contractor and needs their profile updated, the manager needs to call HR.

it means

The manager needs to call HR except in the case where the user is a contractor and needs their profile updated.

which is logically the same as

The manager does not need to call HR if the user is a contractor and needs their profile updated.

CJ

Anonymous · Answer

Thank you very much, that resolved my problem.

Meaning of Unless

Top answer

Get the Weekly English Kit 📬

Related Questions