Please help us discern if this sentence means that any animal under twenty pounds is acceptable, OR if it means you may not own a dog, reptile, rodent, or any other animal that is not a dog, reptile or rodent and weighs more than twenty pounds. Thanks for your input!
"Ownership of dogs, reptiles, rodents or any animal over twenty pounds is prohibited"
Please help us discern if this sentence means that any animal under twenty pounds is acceptable, OR if it means you may not own a dog, reptile, rodent, or any other animal that is not a dog, reptile or rodent and weighs more than twenty pounds. Thanks for your input!
"Ownership of dogs, reptiles, rodents or any animal over twenty pounds is prohibited"
The salient interpretation is that ownership of all dogs, reptiles and rodents (irrespective of weight) is prohibited, as is ownership of any animal at all that weighs over 20 pounds.
Please help us discern if this sentence means that any animal under twenty pounds is acceptable, OR if it means you may not own a dog, reptile, rodent, or any other animal that is not a dog, reptile or rodent and weighs more than twenty pounds. Thanks for your input!
"Ownership of dogs, reptiles, rodents or any animal over twenty pounds is prohibited"
The salient interpretation is that ownership of all dogs, reptiles and rodents (irrespective of weight) is prohibited, as is ownership of any animal at all that weighs over 20 pounds.
PaulM
Thank you for your help. If the statement read ""Ownership of dogs, rodents, reptiles and any animal over 20 pounds is prohibited", would it alter the meaning at all?
Please help us discern if this sentence means that any animal under twenty pounds is acceptable, OR if it means you may not own a dog, reptile, rodent, or any other animal that is not a dog, reptile or rodent and weighs more than twenty pounds. Thanks for your input!
"Ownership of dogs, reptiles, rodents or any animal over twenty pounds is prohibited"
The salient interpretation is that ownership of all dogs, reptiles and rodents (irrespective of weight) is prohibited, as is ownership of any animal at all that weighs over 20 pounds.
PaulM
Thank you for your help. If the statement read ""Ownership of dogs, rodents, reptiles and any animal over 20 pounds is prohibited", would it alter the meaning at all?
No, the coordinators "and" and "or" are interchangeable here with no change in meaning.