"There's a sandwich in the fridge, if you're hungry."
"No, there is a sandwich in the fridge whether or not I'm hungry. In fact, if I'm hungry, it's more likely that there is not a sandwich in the fridge, since I would have eaten it by now.
I hate Magical Grammar -- any sentence structured so that the existence of a need leads to the existence of a means of fulfilling it is annoying.
I believe it's meant to be read "It might be useful to you to know, if you're hungry, that there's a sandwich in the fridge." However, "It might be useful to you to know" is a universally applicable prefix to every single statement people make--otherwise, why would they be saying it?--and so it's dropped, even when the other clauses in the sentence happen to refer to it instead of to its subjunctive.
Comments
"There's a sandwich in the fridge, if you're hungry."
"No, there is a sandwich in the fridge whether or not I'm hungry. In fact, if I'm hungry, it's more likely that there is not a sandwich in the fridge, since I would have eaten it by now.
I hate Magical Grammar -- any sentence structured so that the existence of a need leads to the existence of a means of fulfilling it is annoying.
I believe it's meant to be read "It might be useful to you to know, if you're hungry, that there's a sandwich in the fridge." However, "It might be useful to you to know" is a universally applicable prefix to every single statement people make--otherwise, why would they be saying it?--and so it's dropped, even when the other clauses in the sentence happen to refer to it instead of to its subjunctive.