Interpreting AND

Question

"There 5 Boys and Girls" Is that mean 5 boys and 5 girls, 10 in total or total 5 in combination of boys and gilrls... any help would very highly be appreciated

AlpheccaStars · Accepted Answer

There are five boys and girls in the playground.
I would assume that there are five children are in the playground.

There are five boys and five girls in the playground.
I definitely know that there are ten children are in the playground.

MrGuedes · Answer

Anonymous"There are 5 boys and girls". Does that mean 5 boys and 5 girls, 10 in total, or total 5 in combination of boys and girls?

I think there is really no rule about what it means. It can mean (1) that there are 5 boys and 5 girls, or (2) that there are 5 boys and an unknown number of girls, or (3) that there are 5 people (boys and girls).

Personally, I would tend to perceive the sentence as meaning the 3rd option (there are 5 people). I think that would be the most natural meaning to be perceived. If you want others to perceive the 2nd option (5 boys and an unknown number of girls), I recommend that you put a comma after "boys". Like this: "There are 5 boys, and girls". Finally, I really think few people will perceive that sentence as the 1st option (5 boys and 5 girls). If you are trying to communicate that, I recommend that you actually say "5 boys and 5 girls".

Otherwise, if you are reading or listening that from somewhere, just try to understand it by the context. With that sentence alone, I would say there are 5 people, but maybe I'm wrong, and you can see it by the context.

Interpreting AND

Top answer

Get the Weekly English Kit 📬

Related Questions