Date: Tue, 13 Jan 1998 17:09:44 +0900
From: Hideho Ida hida[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]MAIL.DOSHISHA.AC.JP
Subject: A question of the use of "or".
I have a question about the use of "or" in the following sentence.
I left the hotel; or I would have missed the train.
Of course, in this sentence "otherwise" is correct. But what do you
think of "or" in this sentence? Here "or" means "and if I had not". I
wonder if I should change the semi-colon before "or" into a comma in
this sentence.
In Quirk et al.'s _A Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language_
(1985), I found the following example:
They (must have) liked this apartment, or they wouldn't have stayed so
long.
I would like to have your opinion about this matter. Thanks in
advance.
Hideho Ida hida[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]mail.doshisha.ac.jp