Linear Setup Practice Drill #2

[username1991]

p. 3-31 question 2.
The book says that the notation "The Akita must be shown two places before the Doberman" shall be drawn as A _ D on page 3-106
Whereas in my opinion, A must be shown 2 places before D shall be represented as D _ _ A.
Please help, how come we switch the order and what rule should I rely upon to believe that the place taken by D in the formula A _ D counts as the second place in terms of the distance between A and D.
Thanks

[Nikki Siclunov]

Hi,

Thanks for your question. Let's compare two similar - but different rules:

An Italian film must be shown two days before a Norwegian film

vs.

There are two days between the days on which an Italian and a Norwegian films are shown

We typically arrange temporal sequences from left to right: earlier is to the left, later is to the right. In the first rule, an Italian film must be shown two days before a Norwegian film. This is the same as saying that a Norwegian film is shown two days after an Italian film, i.e. on the second day after the Italian film - I _ N. The following rules all suggest the same exact block:

N is two rooms to the right of I, i.e. N is in the second room to the right of I

N is performed two months after I is performed, i.e. N is the second performance after I (not the first, not the third)

N has two more stars than I

I is delivered two days before N is delivered

etc.

None of these rules indicate that there are two rooms (months, stars, etc.) between N and I, so a N _ _ I representation would be incorrect. Don't ask us why... we didn't invent the English language Just remember the phrasing and what it entails.

Thanks!