Metro-syntactical: "runs through"

[Joel S. Berson]

Some semi-plausible arguments, but for "just the facts, ma'am",
here's what the official MBTA site says (excerpted for the 5 subway
lines only):
-----
The MBTA today [apparently Friday 11/19] announced its service
schedule for the Thanksgiving Holiday, Wednesday, November 24 through
Friday, November 26.  To accommodate customers traveling to and from
Logan Airport, Silver Line service will be enhanced during peak
airport travel times before the holiday continuing through Tuesday,
November 30.

Wednesday, November 24

     * To ensure prompt and convenient service to and from Logan
Airport, the Silver, Red, Orange, Blue and Green lines will operate
with additional service during peak travel periods.

Thanksgiving Day, Thursday, November 25

     * The Red, Orange, Blue, Green, and Silver Lines will operate on
a Sunday schedule.

Friday, November 26
    * The Green line will operate two car trains every eight minutes
throughout the day.
    * The Red, Orange and Blue lines will operate on a regular
weekday schedule.
    * The Silver Line will operate on an enhanced schedule.
-----
Thus there is *reduced* service from a normal (working) Thursday on
Thanksgiving Day.  The Metro said "The extra service will run through
Wednesday and Friday".  Clearly the Metro did mean "on Wednesday and
Friday but not Thursday."

I can't resolve the uncertainty about "and will continue through
Tuesday and Wednesday", since it seems the MBTA has not yet posted
its schedule for those days (or Saturday and Sunday or -- especially
-- Monday, when many air travelers fly back).  But at the moment the
only enhancement the MBTA has posted for Tuesday and Wednesday is for
the Silver line, and through Tuesday, not Wednesday.

Joel

At 11/23/2010 09:50 PM, Victor Steinbok wrote:
>I agree with Dan here. My guess would be that it was an anticipatory
>substitution, as "through" shows up in the next clause. I really don't
>see how they could /possibly/ have implied skipping a day. I am also
>wondering about the use of "Tuesday and Wednesday" with the second
>"through"--either the service ends on Tuesday or on Wednesday. It's not
>immediately apparent why they would use both.
>
>Normally, Thanksgiving would be on a Sunday schedule, with reduced
>service. There have been complaints in the past that, with airline
>delays, there is insufficient public transport on winter holidays. So it
>is still possible that they have additional service on Thursday as well.
>But it's also possible that they do not. Nor do they mention which
>service will run on Saturday--normally reduced--or Sunday--normally
>reduced even further. So the only information we really have is that
>there will be extra service on Wednesday, Friday, apparently Monday, and
>Tuesday and Wednesday. The rest is ambiguous, but I don't think it was
>intentionally so. Hence my comment above on "through".
>
>     VS-)
>
>On 11/23/2010 4:56 PM, Joel S. Berson wrote:
>>At 11/23/2010 04:45 PM, Dan Goncharoff wrote:
>>>What day is being skipped?
>>The Thursday of Thanksgiving, on which people do not travel as much
>>by air as on Wednesday and Friday.  The Tuesday and Wednesday of the
>>second part are presumably in the following week.  It's not
>>immediately apparent whether the intent was to say "extra service on
>>all days from the Wednesday before Thanksgiving through the following
>>Wednesday, except Thanksgiving Day itself."
>>
>>>I think they mistakenly used the word
>>>"through" to mean "on".
>>Very possibly a misuse of "through" when "on" would be spot-on.  But
>>still, they said "through", and twice in the same sentence with what
>>must be two different meanings.  And why say "through *Tuesday and*
>>Wednesday"?  "Through Wednesday" seems sufficient -- unless Friday,
>>Saturday, Sunday, and Monday are also days without extra service.
>>
>>Joel
>
>------------------------------------------------------------
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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org