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Anonymous Posted 11 years ago
Grammar
Usage of "it is possible"
I am in the middle of a very long disagreement concerning the usage of "it is possible"
"I have a bag of dice in my lap, is it possible to dump out the bag and have the total of the face up sides add up to 7?"
this is the question asked, and the response given was "yes, it is possible because the conditions can exist which produce a sum of 7" (that there are between 2 and 7 dice in the bag)
The reply from the original poster was: No, it is not possible because the bag contains 8 dice.
what are your thoughts?? was I wrong to say "it is possible" with the amount of information given?? my thought was that the statement "it is possible" deals with the potential with the given information, not the actuality of the situation...
"I have a bag of dice in my lap, is it possible to dump out the bag and have the total of the face up sides add up to 7?"
this is the question asked, and the response given was "yes, it is possible because the conditions can exist which produce a sum of 7" (that there are between 2 and 7 dice in the bag)
The reply from the original poster was: No, it is not possible because the bag contains 8 dice.
what are your thoughts?? was I wrong to say "it is possible" with the amount of information given?? my thought was that the statement "it is possible" deals with the potential with the given information, not the actuality of the situation...
Top answer
" That is, something like: It's possible depending on the number of dice in the bag. It's possible if there are 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, or 7 dice in the bag. If you answer with an unqualified "it is possible," then the poster can hit you with: It's not possible, because there are 8 dice in the bag.
- " That is, something like: It's possible depending on the number of dice in the bag.
- It's possible if there are 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, or 7 dice in the bag.
- If you answer with an unqualified "it is possible," then the poster can hit you with: It's not possible, because there are 8 dice in the bag.
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3 Answers
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If the original question was as stated in your post, your answer should have been a qualified "it is possible." That is, something like:
It's possible depending on the number of dice in the bag.
It's possible if there are 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, or 7 dice in the bag.
If you answer with an unqualified "it is possible," then the poster can hit you with:
It's not possible,
It's possible depending on the number of dice in the bag.
It's possible if there are 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, or 7 dice in the bag.
If you answer with an unqualified "it is possible," then the poster can hit you with:
It's not possible,
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After more discussion I asked a different question
"Is it possible that I have $456 in my pocket"
I said that because the question is about potential the answer "it is possible" was a natural response while he suggested that "I don't know" was the only appropriate response because there is no knowledge of how much money actually is in my pocket. the contention is about whether "i
"Is it possible that I have $456 in my pocket"
I said that because the question is about potential the answer "it is possible" was a natural response while he suggested that "I don't know" was the only appropriate response because there is no knowledge of how much money actually is in my pocket. the contention is about whether "i
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If you ask the question, "Is it possible that I have $456 in my pocket?", the usual reply (in the US) would not be: "It's possible." The reason is that this is a large amount of money to be carrying around in your pocket (if it's in large bills there would be a visible bulge in your pocket) - and the sum, $456, is unusual; why $456 exactly, and not, say, $400? If the person does not see the te
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