Harry continued pointing his wand downward, insofar as he had been told that, if he tried to raise it, he would die. He remained silent, insofar as he had been told that if he tried to speak, he would die.
This seems an incorrect usage of “insofar as”, since it means “to the extent that”, not “because” or “since”. Native speakers, what do you think?
Native speaker here; I think you’re right. It didn’t leap out at me on a first reading, but I probably would have changed it if I was copy-editing this.
Native speaker—it’s not wrong, but it is somewhat awkward. That said, the whole excerpt is redundant, so I’d be making more extensive changes than replacing “insofar as” with something else if I were editing. (Also: “He tried not to shiver in the falling night temperatures, for...it was getting colder.”)
Native speaker here; I think it’s acceptable. It gives a connotation along the lines of, “had it not been for the fact that he would die, he would have no other reason for doing X.”
This seems an incorrect usage of “insofar as”, since it means “to the extent that”, not “because” or “since”. Native speakers, what do you think?
Native speaker here; I think you’re right. It didn’t leap out at me on a first reading, but I probably would have changed it if I was copy-editing this.
Native speaker—it’s not wrong, but it is somewhat awkward. That said, the whole excerpt is redundant, so I’d be making more extensive changes than replacing “insofar as” with something else if I were editing. (Also: “He tried not to shiver in the falling night temperatures, for...it was getting colder.”)
Native speaker here; I think it’s acceptable. It gives a connotation along the lines of, “had it not been for the fact that he would die, he would have no other reason for doing X.”
Non-native speaker here; I agree with you. I knew what “insofar as” meant, and the statement parsed fine.
Agreed, it jarred when I read it too. I would prefer ‘inasmuch’, but it’s probably better to just say ‘because’.