On 4/29/2022 1:59 PM, Will Martin wrote:
I get that, but to yell at a crowd “The first to flee is a traitor!” leaves open the opportunity for one guy to take the hit for the others and then everybody is right behind him because, hey, you didn’t say anything about the second person to flee.
Say it my way and the clearer message is that we’re all in this mess together, and only a traitor would abandon those who stand and fight. All who flee are traitors.
You don't know the context in which this is said. It's likely that if one flees, the lines will break and all will flee. In that case, you want to punish the one who broke the line, not the entire line. Who said this is the speech of someone yelling at a crowd? Maybe it's the generals consulting before a battle. Maybe there is a known saboteur, whose job is discovered to be throwing the troops into chaos and causing them to flee, and the speaker is saying how the saboteur may be identified. There are all sorts of reasons why one might want to identify the first one to flee as a traitor rather than everyone who flees. I'm not imposing my singular imaginary context onto it. I'm just trying to address the questions about the grammar. -- SuStel http://trimboli.name