Dick, how do you come at a distinction in meaning between `lest' and `in
case'? I cannot find any lexicographic ground to support it. Both of these
logical operators hypothesise an event: neither presumes its inevitability
or the circumstance of its prevention. That is precisely why they head
subjunctive-mood sequences. Your paraphrasing:

D, (lest):  Because I want to make sure I don't slip and fall, I will hold
on to the hand rail

has turned 'lest' into a causal logical operator and thereby diverted the
sense the subjunctive is in place to achieve.

The semantic template to represent the subjunctive mood of the sentence
under scrutiny is this:

`I hold on to the rail and [I hypothesise the possibility that] I slip and
fall'.

It cannot possibly be `I hold on to the rail therefore I will not (or: in
order that I do not) slip and fall. If this were a possibility then the
lest/just in case headers, natural headers of subjunctive-mood sequences,
would simply not be in use.
Sophie

----- Original Message -----
From: Richard Veit, UNCW English Department <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Sunday, July 15, 2001 12:34 AM
Subject: Re: "in case" and "lest S should"


> At 12:32 AM 07/14/2001, Sophie Johnson wrote:
> >... Indeed, `lest' and `just in case' are synonymous expressions. So you
> >are right: both C and D correctly fill the gap in the exam sentence. And
> >you are also right in that `lest' is archaic. On that basis, C would have
> >been the better answer.
>
> I must disagree with Sophie. "Lest" and "just in case" are not synonymous.
> "Lest" means "to prevent X from taking place." "Just in case" means "in
the
> event that X should actually take place." Very different. I agree that
both
> C and D could be said, but D seems the more likely answer. Here are
> equivalent statements (not exact paraphrases by any means):
>
> C. (just in case):  When I slip and fall, I want to be holding on to the
> hand rail.
> D, (lest):  Because I want to make sure I don't slip and fall, I will hold
> on to the hand rail.
>
> Dick Veit
>
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