English Language & Usage Asked on May 14, 2021
Could you please explain to me the difference in meaning and usage of in such case
vs. in such a case
?
The former is the most common of the two expressions and is widely used. In such case, however, is mostly restricted to formal writing. It is very common in law, medicine and the sciences. It wouldn't be a good idea to use this in other registers, for example in fiction or letters to friends.
The meaning of the two terms is very similar, but there's one difference that I can think of. This is that in such case can sometimes mean if this is the case as in if this is the case right now. So a lawyer for example might say:
We can't really use in such a case in this instance, because in such a case can only really mean in cases like this one. It can't mean if this is the case.
Aside from this the two are basically freely interchangable in most of those registers where in such case occurs (I'll make a hedge here, in that I don't know if the legal use of the term has any special caveats).
In terms of grammar, there is also one important distinction which could account for the perseverance of in such case in formal writing. This is that in such case can take a content clause as a complement. In such a case does not. Here are a couple of examples:
[MP Nieminen, K Kalpio, J Rinkinen - US Patent 6,578,075, 2003 ]
[I Vliegen, L Delang, J Neyts - Antiviral Methods and Protocols, 2013 ]
In these instances the idiom in such case is behaving like a conjunctive preposition (read 'subordinating conjunction').
Correct answer by Araucaria - Not here any more. on May 14, 2021
I usually use the two phrases of 1. "in this case" and/or "in this situation" often when describing an earlier mentioned negative results or an unintended situation that I want to justify and describe to my audience when writing a formal assessment report. Also, in most cases, it starts in a new paragraph. So please describe to me which one is correct grammatically and where each one is appropriate to use informal English reporting writing.
Thanks
Answered by Sandaqad Daar on May 14, 2021
Get help from others!
Recent Answers
Recent Questions
© 2024 TransWikia.com. All rights reserved. Sites we Love: PCI Database, UKBizDB, Menu Kuliner, Sharing RPP