Hello everyone,
1. Three students passed the test other than Bill.
An American dictionary tells me that "other than" means "besides"and "except"
So sentence1 means both 4 students passed the test and 3 students passed (Bill didn't pass the exam.)
If I am right, then sentence1 is ambiguous. What is the usual way to reword sentence1 clearly (to mean 3 passed the test) ?
2. Someone other than Bill failed the exam.
Again, did Bill pass the exam?
Still I think the sentence could be explained in two ways.
(a) besides: Bill failed.
(b) except: though the sentence does not tell us directly about what Bill's performance was, it is possible to infer Bill didn't fail.
What do the two sentences really mean?
Many many thanks.