Purpose vs. Result

Ian informed me this evening that, in spite of the family's plan to go swimming in a nearby lake today while I was at work, they didn't actually swim, because there was a problem with the water.

I was trying to find out from him whether they found out about the problem before venturing out, of if they got the bad news when they were already at the lake, but I had a hard time framing it in a way that he could understand the question, so finally I asked: "Did you drive all the way to the lake, only to find out that you couldn't swim?"

Apparently, the lad thought I was asking whether finding out that they couldn't swim was their motivation in going, rather than an unfortunate development upon arrival, so he clarified: "No, we drived to the lake to swim."

(August 17, 2009)