Interpretation of OR

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If I read an extract form some form of literature and came across a phrase such as "tomorrow or Monday", would I interpret this as tomorrow is Monday or would I interpret this as an option of either tomorrow (say Friday) or Monday not having any source in the literature that lends evidence to the interpretation. Is it and apposition or is it an option.

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In that phrase, 'or' is a conjunction used to connect two different possibilities: 1. tomorrow 2. Monday.

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@Sir Neuron,

In the absence of context I would definitely interpret "or" as an option.
In short, without contextual disambiguation I suggest it would be stylistically normal to replace "or" with "i.e." if this were the intended meaning.

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It is worth pointing out that 'or' is not always used to imply a choice: "I will go to London tomorrow or Monday" means "I will go to London either tomorrow or on Monday, I don't know which at the moment".

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I asked this question, because I experienced this problem when I read some text and could not figure out in some cases the intended meaning. In other cases I realised I only new the intended meaning due to knowledge I had acquired in the field of discussion. So even at times when there was a context to refer to, it was difficult for one to discern the intension without knowledge in the related field .

How can I resolve this issue to enable me to intepret literature correctly?

Or is this an over sight of the publishers to express themselves in an unambiguous way?

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@Sir Neuron,

Sir Neuron wrote:

How can I resolve this issue to enable me to intepret literature correctly?

Are you for real? You are posting like an attention troll. Quit wasting our time.

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@contrex,

contrex wrote:

... an attention troll.

What is this?

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@Sir Neuron,

Sir I don't know the technical terms but "or" also means "and/or"

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@contrex,

Quote:

two different possibilities

Three actually, Con

…..four if Fres is onto something, up to 24 if truly distinguished also in terms of apposition and/or option

Technicalities forever rearing their ugly heads

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@dalehileman,

dalehileman wrote:

Sir I don't know the technical terms but "or" also means "and/or"

Not sure what you mean here. You can say 'A or B' and you can say 'A and B' but 'A and/or B' (which is clumsy and ugly) means 'A or B or both'.

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@dalehileman,

dalehileman wrote:

Quote:
two different possibilities
Three actually, Con

I meant 2 in that example sentence about Marys/Maries, not generally.

You can use 'or' in at least 7 ways that I know of:

1 to introduce another possibility
Is your sister older or younger than you?
Are you coming or not?
Is it a boy or a girl?
It can be black, white or grey.

2 used in negative sentences when mentioning two or more things
He can't read or write.
There are people without homes, jobs or family.

3 (also or else) used to warn or advise somebody that something bad could happen; otherwise
Turn the heat down or it'll burn.

4 used between two numbers to show approximately how many
There were six or seven of us there.

5 used to introduce a word or phrase that explains or means the same as another
geology, or the science of the earth's crustIt weighs a kilo, or just over two pounds.

6 used to say why something must be true
He must like her, or he wouldn't keep calling her.

7 used to introduce a contrasting idea
He was lying—or was he?

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@dalehileman,

dalehileman wrote:

Quote:
two different possibilities
Three actually, Con

…..four if Fres is onto something, up to 24 if truly distinguished also in terms of apposition and/or option

Technicalities forever rearing their ugly heads

Clarify if you may.

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Not necessarily.

The Christian ladies evangelical open air revivalist meeting will be held on Frinton Common tomorrow, or Monday if the weather's ******* ****.

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@contrex,

Quote:

'A and/or B' (which is clumsy and ugly) means 'A or B or both'.

Yes Con it is and it does and I suppose that's why it's okay to skip the "and/"

Dunno, I had just read it somewhere

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@contrex,

Wow even more; thanks Con

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@Sir Neuron,

Quote:

Clarify if you may.

Well Sir a quick calc might reveal 24 perms and combos, that's 4 x 3 x 2 x 1

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@dalehileman,

dalehileman wrote:

it's okay to skip the "and/"

It is definitely NOT OK to do that! It changes the meaning.

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@contrex,

Quote:

...an "or" in spoken language might indicate inclusive or or exclusive or

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/And/or

Con I only know what I read somewhere

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@dalehileman,

Ummm!!! Thanks for the grammatical maths lessons, but excuse me if I seem a bit biwildered.

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Interpretation of OR

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