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If my teacher says :

"I am closing down all online assignments up to Module 3"

Is she closing Modules 1, 2, AND 3, or just Modules 1 and 2 ? Thanks everyone!

Amit Verma
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Kolya Larsen
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    Ask her, please. – Dan Bron Feb 27 '16 at 01:12
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    It's at least potentially ambiguous. That's why smart/considerate people usually say Up to and including* (N-1), rather than Up to N*. – FumbleFingers Feb 27 '16 at 01:15
  • It's up to you to decide. – Hot Licks Feb 27 '16 at 02:29
  • I agree with all three comments, but in a certain order. HotLicks first, as yes, if used heavily unclear and ambigous terminology, you can decide you'll go with the one that's better for you. Then Dan Bron, because if you don't ask back or at least indicate that there's something wrong, you might get a shutdown - if you did ask, it should automatically get you a clear pass if the person isn't a complete irrational scumbag who can't understand proper, correct and valid grammar is important. Then FumbleFingers. Why wasn't this pointed out earlier to her? – Sakatox Feb 27 '16 at 10:39

1 Answers1

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Not necessarily. Your example is ambiguous.

Also note that there are examples where "up to" can even mean "excluding": imagine you're doing a mathematical problem in which you are required to find the value of X, but all you can work out is |X|=1, then you can say:

I have found that, up to a sign, the result is 1.

Cheers.

Vim
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