Question about POST in HTTP/1.0

Folks:

This probably is a dumb question, but here goes...

The HTTP/1.0 spec says that a POST can be used for:
a) allowing an object to be created on the server
that is subordinate to the URI in the request, or
b) providing data for a data-handling process.

My question is, how does the client and server distinguish
one case from the other? The client may intend one
meaning but the server may take the other action.

Thanks for taking the time to respond.

--Suresh