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Marc92 Posted 16 years ago
Grammar

Need help correcting sentences

Hello,

I am having problems with an English task, where I have to find errors in different sentences. I can't seem to find the error in this sentence though.

He had only had two hours' sleep but nevertheless he went to the dentist.

What is the mistake, and why is it wrong?

And there is actually another sentence aswell, which i'm unsure which of two answers are correct.
We were asked to correct this sentence: "All our furniture were damaged in the fire"
Which is more correct?

All our furniture was damaged in the fire
or
All our pieces of furniture were damaged in the fire?

Thank you in advance,

//marc
  

Top answer

He had only had two hours' sleep , but nevertheless he went to the dentist. -- Only a comma I see missing. [Edited-- MM] All our furniture was damaged in the fire.

  • He had only had two hours' sleep , but nevertheless he went to the dentist.
  • -- Only a comma I see missing.
  • [Edited-- MM] All our furniture was damaged in the fire.
  • All our pieces of furniture were damaged in the fire.
  • -- Both are fine grammatically, but the first is the native utterance .
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19 Answers
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He had only had two hours' sleep, but nevertheless he went to the dentist.
What is the mistake, and why is it wrong?-- Only a comma I see missing. [Edited-- MM]

All our furniture was damaged in the fire.
All our pieces of furniture were damaged in the fire.
Which is more correct?-- Both are fine grammatically, but the first is the native utteran
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Hi,

I am having problems with an English task, where I have to find errors in different sentences. I can't seem to find the error in this sentence though.

He had only had two hours' sleep but nevertheless he went to the dentist.

What is the mistake, and why is it wrong? It's not wrong, although it would be a good idea to add one or two commas.

And there
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Oops! I missed the existing 'had'. Let me go back and amend my post. Thanks, Clive.
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Thank you very much both of you. Though i'm quite sure there has to be a mistake in the sentence:
"He had only had two hours' sleep but nevertheless he went to the dentist."
Because in the discription of the task it sais that there is one error in each sentence.
Would it be more correct to, maybe, use "dentist's"?

//marc
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Hi Marc, it should either be:

He had only had two hours' sleep, but nevertheless he went to the dentist.

or

He had only had two hours' sleep but nevertheless went to the dentist.

For example:

I am rich but sad (Correct)

I am rich but I am sad. (Wrong)

I am rich, but I am sad. (Correct)

-------------------------

The
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Hi,

Though i'm quite sure there has to be a mistake in the sentence:
"He had only had two hours' sleep but nevertheless he went to the dentist."

Because in the discription of the task it sais that there is one error in each sentence.

Would it be more correct to, maybe, use "dentist's"? You could certainly say that, but the form 'went to the dentist' is well-
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In the first sentence, you do not need the first "had."
And "All our furniture was damaged in the fire" is more natural.
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Thank you everyone for the awesome responses, that were very helpful! :-)

//marc
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Doesn't it sound a bit superfluous to you? How about leaving out 'but''? i.e. He had had only 2 hours' sleep. Nevertheless, he went to the dentist.
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Yes, the word "but" should also be omitted.

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