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Fri 23 Oct, 2015 11:12 pm
When I was still a student, we had to write essays, and the teacher one day said to us:
-I'm waiving the Third Reich task for the week after next.
Does it make sense? Does it mean 1. because we have something else to do the week after next, so you don't have to do this task, or 2. you don't have to do it this week, but you have to do it the week after next?
Other than that a project which was scheduled for the week after next is being waived, that sentence doesn't really tell us anything. Either case that you advanced could explain it. "Waive" is usually used (but not exclusively) to mean that a requirement is being dispensed with altogether. The thing which makes it ambiguous is the mention of a time factor. If it simply said that the requirement were being waived, with no mention of a schedule, i would assume that the requirement were gone.
The teacher might have meant
"I'm waiving the Third Reich task (the one for the week after next)."
or he/she might have meant
"I'm postponing the deadline for the Third Reich task from the week after next (to sometime later).
From what you quote it is not clear what is meant, and we don't know if the teacher knew the correct meaning of "waive" (quite a number of native speakers don't). Surely the context or later events would have made it clear. (Did you ever have to complete the Third Reich task?)
Excellent answers. Thank you.```
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