paper-machine comments on Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality discussion thread, February 2015, chapter 112 - Less Wrong

4 Post author: Gondolinian 25 February 2015 09:00PM

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Comment author: MarkusRamikin 25 February 2015 09:47:44PM 2 points [-]

Harry continued pointing his wand downward, insofar as he had been told that, if he tried to raise it, he would die. He remained silent, insofar as he had been told that if he tried to speak, he would die.

This seems an incorrect usage of "insofar as", since it means "to the extent that", not "because" or "since". Native speakers, what do you think?

Comment author: [deleted] 25 February 2015 09:52:58PM *  3 points [-]

Native speaker here; I think it's acceptable. It gives a connotation along the lines of, "had it not been for the fact that he would die, he would have no other reason for doing X."

Comment author: jaime2000 26 February 2015 12:20:15AM 0 points [-]

Non-native speaker here; I agree with you. I knew what "insofar as" meant, and the statement parsed fine.

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