Breakdown of Le programmeur agit moralement dans la mesure où il évite le biais.
il
he
agir
to act
éviter
to avoid
le programmeur
the programmer
le biais
the bias
dans la mesure où
insofar as / to the extent that
moralement
morally
Questions & Answers about Le programmeur agit moralement dans la mesure où il évite le biais.
Why doesn't dans la mesure où take the subjunctive?
Unlike many complex conjunctions, dans la mesure où is followed by the indicative. This is because it expresses an extent based on a reality or an established premise, rather than a doubt or a hypothetical desire. Therefore, we use the regular present tense évite.
Does dans la mesure où mean the same thing as parce que here?
Not exactly. While it can sometimes be used to mean 'since' or 'because', here it specifically means 'insofar as' or 'to the extent that'. It introduces a condition or proportion: the programmer's morality only goes as far as his avoidance of bias.
Could I replace dans la mesure où with a conditional phrase like à condition que?
Yes, the meaning would be very similar ('provided that he avoids bias'). However, remember that à condition que requires the subjunctive. With éviter, the subjunctive form looks identical to the indicative (qu'il évite), but the underlying grammatical rule is different!
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