He kept his head, __ otherwise __ the accident would have happened.

Question

整句话什么意思呢？还有 otherwise 在其中是何含义呢(⊙o⊙)？

Answer 1

【原句】
He kept his head, otherwise the accident would have happened.
【翻译】
他很冷静，否则就发生车祸了。
【otherwise用法】
otherwise＝if he hadn't kepe his head
属于含蓄条件句的虚拟语气用法
【例证】
非真实条件句中的条件从句有时候不表达出来，只是暗含在上下文中。
如：We didn’t know his telephone number; otherwise we would have telephoned him.
我们不知道他的电话号码，否则我们就会给他打电话。（暗含条件otherwise）
Without your help, we wouldn’t have achieved so much.
没有你的帮助，我们不可能取得这么大的成绩。（暗含条件without your help）
But for your help, I would not have succeeded in the experiment.
如果没有你的帮助，我的实验就不会成功。（暗含条件But for your help）
Given the opportunity, he might have become a famous singer.
如果给他提供机会的话，他很可能已经成为著名歌唱家了。（暗含条件Given the opportunity）