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Can one say something like "This seems to be valid in the general case, but is not proven there"? Or must one say "then"?

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    There will be some contexts where you could use then / now in this type of construction, but even then it would probably be better to stick to there / here, which are probably always acceptable. Though to be honest I'm not sure whether that preceding sentence would be better with even there rather than even then. May 25, 2016 at 18:32
  • Can you tell some more about the context where this sentence would appear? Is it referring to mathematics?
    – Ben Kovitz
    May 25, 2016 at 20:11
  • Yes. Why? Something with the word "proven"?
    – Serguei
    May 25, 2016 at 20:48

1 Answer 1

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There refers to a location. I believe in this case, the "location" would be within whatever "the general case" refers to. If you were to replace "there" with "in that general case", it should mean the same thing.

This seems to be valid in the general case, but is not proven in that general case.

Same meaning, yes? Because you can replace "there" with a location, it follows that "there" is the proper word to use.

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    It is not always used for locations. 1.3In that respect; on that issue: I don’t agree with you there. Check here oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/there
    – user33000
    May 25, 2016 at 20:13
  • @Sina I guess that's what I meant by location. My bad. A broad sense of placement, I suppose. "In that respect" refers to something that came previously. In this case, I assumed that location referred to a placement (which, in my mind, included things that come previously). May 25, 2016 at 22:31

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