52-1. You may fire now, Gridley.
52-2. You may go tomorrow, Gridley.
It is true that “when” may lose, at least in a measure, its sense of time, and then indicate a somewhat different relation between the clauses it connects. Mr. Wilson gives the following sentence to illustrate this point:
53. Refrain not to speak, when by speaking you may be useful to others.
Here “when” may not refer to time, but may be equivalent to if, thus introducing a condition under which to speak; or it may be equivalent to because, thus giving a reason. Such meaning would make a sentence very much like No. 49-1.
We find an exact counterpart of No. 53, with similar punctuation, in the following sentence from the New Testament, Common Version:
53-1. Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you.
The same sentence in the Revised Version appears without the comma, thus giving “when” its full sense of time:
53-2. Blessed are ye when men shall reproach you.
In Sentence 47 we saw the various uses of the word “therefore”; and in Sentences 48 and 48-1 we saw the different meanings of “however” with a change of position. In our next five or six sentences, we shall see that the meaning to be conveyed determines the relation, this relation being indicated by the mark of punctuation:
54. Fortunately for me, the work was easy.
54-1. Fortunately, for me the work was easy.