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Vincent Teo Posted 19 years ago
Grammar

mix the coffee



(a) I add a spoon of sugar and mix the coffee.

(b) I mix the coffee with a spoon of sugar.

(c) Mix the coffee with sugar.

(d) I mix some sugar into / in the coffee.

  

Top answer

Hi Vincent. All of your sentences are acceptable grammatically. ) But it would be more idiomatic, and sound more natural, to say (a) I add a spoon (or spoonful) of sugar and stir the coffee, or (d) I stir some sugar into the coffee.

  • Hi Vincent.
  • All of your sentences are acceptable grammatically.
  • ) But it would be more idiomatic, and sound more natural, to say (a) I add a spoon (or spoonful) of sugar and stir the coffee, or (d) I stir some sugar into the coffee.
  • Both of these sound more natural than (b) or (c).
  • I would suggest, as a general approach, that when you want to know how to say something, you find the most common/idiomatic/natural way, either by asking here or by reading stories written in simple, current English, and just try to learn that example instead of comparing many different ways of saying each thing.
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1 Answers
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Hi Vincent. All of your sentences are acceptable grammatically. (D should use "into", not "in".) But it would be more idiomatic, and sound more natural, to say (a) I add a spoon (or spoonful) of sugar and stir the coffee, or (d) I stir some sugar into the coffee. Both of these sound more natural than (b) or (c).

I would suggest, as a general approach, that when you want

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