Re: syntax/semantics confusion in 'Syntax' document

On 23 Mar 2009, at 16:41, Jonathan Rees wrote:

> "5.1 Classes can be understood as sets of individuals."
>
> This should be something like:
>
> "5.1 Classes represent sets of objects from the domain."
> or
> "5.1 Classes represent sets of (semantic) individuals."
>
> First, classes are (syntactic) entities, so they can't be  
> understood as sets; they must be understood as representing sets.

Nope. It's perfectly normal English to say "can be understood" as  
"representing".

Use/mention moves like this are done *alll the time* in normal  
English. In technical prose, *sometimes*, when the language is  
formal, one adds "by abuse of notation".

I think the current text is perfectly fine.

Cheers,
Bijan.