On Nov 18, Dan Jacobson wrote: > so, at least lets pretend we cant see the final line... or we read > in a hurry: we will think the report has already been sent unless we > read to the very final line. therefore please change > > Report will be sent to Debian Bug Tracking System<..> > to > Send this report to Debian Bug Tracking System<..>?
"Will be" is the future tense of the verb "to be". By way of contrast, "has been" is the past sense of the verb "to be". So if something "will be" sent, by definition it *has not been sent yet*. I suppose we could be all wishy-washy and put it as "Report might be sent if you bother to answer yes to the following question," but that's wordy. Especially since "Report will be sent" has a clear meaning indicating that the report has not yet been sent, and 999/1000 times you will be sending the report (most people don't launch reportbug and draft bug reports just to amuse themselves; perhaps you are the exception to this rule). For example, the sentence "Iraq will be found to be in material breach of its obligations to the security council if it fails to fully disclose its development programs of biological, chemical, radiological, and nuclear weapons." implies that Iraq has not yet been found to be in material breach, and that Iraq is not currently (as of the time the sentence was written, at least) in material breach. However, at some future point in time, Iraq may be found to be in material breach, if the conditions are fulfilled. Accordingly, because I believe in the concept of causality, I am closing this report. (Present tense; when you receive this, the report will have been closed, but as I draft this, it will be closed at some future point in time.) Chris -- Chris Lawrence <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> - http://blog.lordsutch.com/ Computer Systems Manager, Physics and Astronomy, Univ. of Mississippi 125B Lewis Hall - 662-915-5765
