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Anonymous Posted 16 years ago
Grammar
Soldiers vs. the soldiers
Since then, American soldiers could not go back home until the war ended.
Since then, the American soldiers could not go back home until the war ended.
1. Do you think the first sentence refer to any American soldiers, regardless of platoon, group, etc?
2. Do you think the second sentence answers the question "which soldiers?", ie. the American soldiers?
3. Can the second sentence also answer the question "which American soldiers?", ie. the American soldiers in the war being talked about?
4. If you were to write this, would you use the article 'the' or not?
Since then, the American soldiers could not go back home until the war ended.
1. Do you think the first sentence refer to any American soldiers, regardless of platoon, group, etc?
2. Do you think the second sentence answers the question "which soldiers?", ie. the American soldiers?
3. Can the second sentence also answer the question "which American soldiers?", ie. the American soldiers in the war being talked about?
4. If you were to write this, would you use the article 'the' or not?
Top answer
Since then, American soldiers could not go back home until the war ended. Since then, the American soldiers could not go back home until the war ended. 1.
- Since then, American soldiers could not go back home until the war ended.
- Since then, the American soldiers could not go back home until the war ended.
- 1.
- Do you think the first sentence refer s to any American soldiers, regardless of platoon, group, etc?
- yes 2.
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6 Answers
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Since then, American soldiers could not go back home until the war ended.
Since then, the American soldiers could not go back home until the war ended.
1. Do you think the first sentence refers to any American soldiers, regardless of platoon, group, etc? yes
2. Do you think the second sentence answers the question "which soldiers?", ie. the American soldiers?
Since then, the American soldiers could not go back home until the war ended.
1. Do you think the first sentence refers to any American soldiers, regardless of platoon, group, etc? yes
2. Do you think the second sentence answers the question "which soldiers?", ie. the American soldiers?
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Thank you for your explanation and your suggestion.
Since
AlpheccaStars1. Do you think the first sentence refers to any American soldiers, regardless of platoon, group, etc? yes5. Suppose I change "soldiers" to singular as the sentence below. Again, does it refer to any American soldier, but limited only to those involved in the said war?
Since
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Anonymous5. Suppose I change "soldiers" to singular as the sentence below. Again, does it refer to any American soldier, but limited only to those involved in the said war?I would not use the singular. You can say, for emphasis:
Since then, an American soldier could not go home until the war ended.
Since then, not a single American soldier
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AlpheccaStars3. Can the second sentence also answer the question "which American soldiers?", ie. the American soldiers in the war being talked about? not really. It might be inferred that way, but needs more context.7. If context makes it possible for it to answer the question "which American soldiers?", then which question is more likely that the u
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Thank you for your explanation. This is more than clear to me now. I just have an additional question I posted before I read your answer to question #5. I hope you can help me with it (#7) as well. Thank you in advance.
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AlpheccaStarsSince then, not a single American soldier could go home until the war ended.8. Just for my clarification, this refers to any American soldier but limited to only those involved in the war, thus, still making it specifically referring to any soldier in the said war. Kindly confirm.
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