Singular/Plural

Hi Eeelearner,

Your sentence is a bit stilted, but it is correct.

Here, parallel means side by side.

You may wish to say, "The couple is standing side by side at the wall."

Hope this helps,

John

Hi John Paris

Is "at the wall" ok?

Hi Vsuresh, nice to see you.

Sure, "at the wall" is fine (along with a lot of other prepositions).

Best, John

Thank you JohnParis.

Since I had not come across such an expression I had that doubt.

Please tell me the position 'at' denotes here.

Well, imagine this: there is a very famous wall in Jerusalem known as the Western Wall.

It is a sacred place for both Jews and Muslims. Jews go there to pray. It is custom to pray facing the wall at a very close distance.

Two men go to the wall to pray. They stand side by side. They are at the wall praying. The couple is standing at the wall.

Have I answered your questio

Hi John,

thanks for the help. A related example - the couple stands/stand at the wall, close to each other. My main difficulty actually is, should it be singular or plural (stand/stands) and does 'each other' make sense in this context?

Thanks again.

OK Eeelearner, this is a new question.

In the sentence: "The couple stand/stands at the wall, close to each other", is "couple" singular or plural?

If you say it's plural, then it would be "stands". If you say that it's singular, then it would have to be "stand". Either way, "each other" makes perfect sense.

But, let's come back to "couple" being singular or plural.

Hi John, thanks for the very clear explanation!

Yes. Thank you very much, JohnParis.

Incorrect. Couple is singular. A single item cannot be parallel to itself. The clause needs to be re-worded to separate the individuals.