A lot of Negations, The rain and the paving/ a little riddle

English as a Second Language English Vocabulary, Grammar and Idioms
1

It’s not the case that if it doesn’t rain, the paving stones don’t get wet.

Now my question is: does it or doesn’t rain? What’s your answer? Who’s able to solve the riddle?

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Alright, let’s go through your riddle carefully.

You said:

It’s not the case that if it doesn’t rain, the paving stones don’t get wet.

Let’s rewrite it step-by-step:

  • “If it doesn’t rain, the paving stones don’t get wet” — that’s a basic conditional.
  • “It’s not the case that …” — means we are negating that whole conditional.

In logic, the negation of “if A then B” is “A and not B”.
So:

  • A = “it doesn’t rain”
  • B = “the paving stones don’t get wet”

Negating “if A then B” gives us:

A and not B

Which becomes:

It doesn’t rain and the paving stones do get wet.

So the answer is:

  • It does not rain, but the paving stones still get wet!

Final answer:
:blue_circle: It doesn’t rain.
(But the paving stones still get wet — maybe someone is washing them or sprinklers are on.)

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There is no way to know. From the given information it may or may not rain, and the paving stones may or may not get wet.

All it’s saying is that you can’t conclude that IF the paving stones get wet that it rained.

It’s not saying the paving stones CAN get wet without rain either.

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You’re right, but, please, strictly reason and assume that there is no other cause for the wet paving stones. What do you say now?

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The entire point of the sentence is to say that you can’t assume anything. I’m not assuming anything because there is not enough information.

The sentence can be reworded. The following has the same exact meaning.

If the paving stones are wet, that doesn’t necessarily mean it rained.

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Thank you for giving me your point of view. You are the one who is closest to the correct answer, if not the one who has already given the correct answer—you surely understand what I mean. I know you don’t like to hear this, but I love you too, not in reverse. Now, I know, you probably won’t write to me again, but that’s the way I feel…love in the sense of being a good friend. You know sometimes people say things they don’t really mean and that is why I appreciate you. You say what you think about me, but you don’t put a dagger in my back. Putting a dagger in someone’s back is far worse than shouting and yelling nasty things at someone. However NN, you can count on me. I’ll be here for you, if you need it.

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Thank you too, Torsten.