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Grampsflicked Posted 9 years ago
Grammar

I had a problem solving a multiple-choice question.

I tried to solve a multiple-choice question, but I couldn’t find the correct answer. The passage and the options are as follows:

Realistically, fifty years from now, the world’s ‘big’ languages may be just six: Chinese, Spanish, Hindi, Bengali, Arabic and English. The last two, and the (1. final 2. former 3. next 4. other) one especially, are distinguished by having significant numbers of non-native speakers.

I had no choice but to choose ‘final’ from the context, but I was frustrated by the conjunction ‘AND’ before ‘the final one.’ If it were not for ‘AND’, the last sentence would go: The last two, the final one especially, are distinguished by having significant numbers of non-native speakers, which would make more sense to me.

What do you think?

  

Top answer

Both versions are acceptable.

— Clive

  • Both versions are acceptable.
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2 Answers
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Both versions are acceptable.

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You chose correctly. It just means "The last two, and especially/particularly the final one, etc."

Here's a link to the original text.

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