Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums

[b7lake]

I have not been able to discover any period
in European or American history since the Middle Ages where
Islam was generally discussed or thought about outside a framework
created by passion, prejudice and politiacal interests.

I cannot understand why 'where' is used intead of 'when'.
Could you tell me why?

Thanks for your help.

[EnglishRaven]

I understand your dilemma here, but can't quite explain it!

"where" sounds fine to me here in reference to "period", and "when" would be okay as well.

I think "where" is okay because we are talking in a general sense about 'period'. In these sorts of general senses, 'where' seems to sound fine to this native speaker ear. For example "I've never been in a situation where I was in danger of serious bodily harm".

Perhaps someone else here can explain it in terms of more explicit grammatical rules.

- Jason
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