In a technical description I’ve written “When the following conditions exist” and listed Condition 1 to N. When I said “When the following conditions exist”, I meant “all the following” conditions should exist.
Do be specific/accurate, should I have to modify my writing as “When all the following condition exist” Or “When the following conditions exist” itself will implicitly mean “all the following”?
Answer
A technical document, should be precise and unambiguous.
Write either “When all the following conditions exist,” “When one of the following conditions exists”, “When some of the following conditions exist”, “When at least two of the following conditions exist”, etc, to say precisely what you mean.
“When the following conditions exist” could mean “all” or “any”. Sometimes it is obvious from the context which is meant, but sometimes it is not.
Attribution
Source : Link , Question Author : M Sharath Hegde , Answer Author : alephzero