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Forum_mail Posted 20 years ago
Grammar

a couple of short questions

0 Hello there!02br
02br
001. is "neither one of them" equal to "none of them" ? or is the meaning different?02br
002. in a cartoon one of characters said "did anyone bring the ball?" - shouldn't it be "has anyone brought the ball" ? I mean, there's some past-present time relation and an effect - the ball is there or is not... 02br
003. do we say "one of THE characters" or without "the" and why???02br
004. in a radio show there was a question followed by "Good question" - why is there no article?! I'd say "A good question"02br
005. which one is correct "It's a good question" or "That's a good question" and why?02br
006. Would you say 'Well, I'd say that a verb is...' or 'Well, I'd have said that a verb is...'02br
007. a verb or the verb?02br
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00thanks a lot, looking forward to your replies02br
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00FM0-
  

Top answer

0Firstly, these are not 'a couple of questions'! 02br 02br 001. No.

— Tam Sadek

  • 0Firstly, these are not 'a couple of questions'!
  • 02br 02br 001.
  • No.
  • Neither one of them means there's two (of them) in total.
  • 02br 02br 002.
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5 Answers
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0Firstly, these are not 'a couple of questions'! 'Couple' means 'two', not seven!02br
02br
001. No. Neither one of them means there's two (of them) in total. None of them means there's more than two in total.02br
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002. No. Cartoons reflect (US) spoken English often and the 'did you' versus 'have you' is a difference in informal speech.02br
02
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0 well... as far as I know "a couple of (sth)" means a small number of things -> "I just need to make a couple more calls." (Longman Dictionary)02br
00so it does not have to mean "2" does it? unless I'm mistaken, which of course, is possible.02br
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00anyway thanks for your answers,0-
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0Well yes and no. 'Couple' does mean a small number, two (or perhaps three), but certainly not seven. 02br
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00For example; if I say 'a couple of days ago' this would mean Friday (or perhaps Thursday), but certainly 01i01b00not02b02i00 last Sunday!02br
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00'A few' or 'some' would be more accurate here.0-
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0thanks a lot 05002br
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00could you elaborate on the usage of "the" in "the characters" ? I kind of get the idea but still... does the listener to whom I adress such a sentence knows which characters I'm talking about? I guess that he doesn't... especially when I'm not talkin about any particular cartoon... hmm...010id5
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0If we look at the context of this sentence, it would probably be:02br
02br
00"01font00One of02font01b01font00 the characters02font00 01font00in02font02b01font00 01b00a cartoon02b02fon
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