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Sebayanpendam Posted 18 years ago
Grammar
Subject-direct object
0 Dear Sir/Madam, 02 br
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00 I came across this sentence in an article saying 01 i 00 'All doctors in the hospital 01 u 00 carry a bleeper 02 u 00 .' 02 i 00 As far as distributive plural is concerned, would the sentence be more accurate if it is written as 01 i 00 'All doctors in the hospital 01 u 00 carry bleepers 02 u 00 .' 02 i 00 since all doctors are carrying the same thing. I based my opinion on an example from a grammar book by Micheal Swan: 01 i 00 'Tell the kids to bring 01 u 00 raincoats 02 u 00 to school tomorrow.' So, I 02 i 00 consulted someone whose first language was English and the answer I obtained was --In particular, if there were to be any confusion with respect to the number of pagers each person carries, 01 i 00 the singular is clear 02 i 00 . "All doctors carry stethoscopes" may suggest that they will have a spare one to lend or give you. "All doctors carry a stethoscope" is clear -- Therefore, 02 br
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00 'All doctors in the hospital carry a bleeper' is more natural than 'All doctors .....carry bleepers.' 02 br
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00 However, he said that we must say 'All the students in the classroom 01 u 00 blow their noses' 02 u 00 . The reason is if there is more than one person in the classroom, then it should be 'noses'. This contradicts his previous explanation. I'm confused. 02 br
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00 Please clarify this for me. 02 br
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02 br
00 I came across this sentence in an article saying 01 i 00 'All doctors in the hospital 01 u 00 carry a bleeper 02 u 00 .' 02 i 00 As far as distributive plural is concerned, would the sentence be more accurate if it is written as 01 i 00 'All doctors in the hospital 01 u 00 carry bleepers 02 u 00 .' 02 i 00 since all doctors are carrying the same thing. I based my opinion on an example from a grammar book by Micheal Swan: 01 i 00 'Tell the kids to bring 01 u 00 raincoats 02 u 00 to school tomorrow.' So, I 02 i 00 consulted someone whose first language was English and the answer I obtained was --In particular, if there were to be any confusion with respect to the number of pagers each person carries, 01 i 00 the singular is clear 02 i 00 . "All doctors carry stethoscopes" may suggest that they will have a spare one to lend or give you. "All doctors carry a stethoscope" is clear -- Therefore, 02 br
02 br
00 'All doctors in the hospital carry a bleeper' is more natural than 'All doctors .....carry bleepers.' 02 br
02 br
00 However, he said that we must say 'All the students in the classroom 01 u 00 blow their noses' 02 u 00 . The reason is if there is more than one person in the classroom, then it should be 'noses'. This contradicts his previous explanation. I'm confused. 02 br
02 br
00 Please clarify this for me. 02 br
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6 Answers
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0 I still remember vividly an example from a year ago, "Some houses in LA have swimming pools in their backyards." 0-
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0 They are called BEEPERS, not bleepers, though I do like the idea of a machine that makes a noise every time someone swears. 02 br
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00 This is an area of English that doesn't have a clear answer. Usually it's obvious by logic which is meant. I would use "a beeper." 0-
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00 This is an area of English that doesn't have a clear answer. Usually it's obvious by logic which is meant. I would use "a beeper." 0-
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1 blockquote
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00 Beepers - American English or pagers 0-
01 cite 10 Grammar Geek 12 cite 12 br10 Bleeper - British English 02 br
10 They are called BEEPERS, not bleepers, though I do like the idea of a machine that makes a noise every time someone swears. 12 br
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12 blockquote
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00 Beepers - American English or pagers 0-
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0 Well there you go. I learned something new today. 02 br
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00 So just out of curiorsity, is it also BrE to refer to being "bleeped" if you use a bad word on air? 0-
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00 So just out of curiorsity, is it also BrE to refer to being "bleeped" if you use a bad word on air? 0-
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00 Several doctors can, if necessary, share the same "bleeper", but students cannot under any circumstances share the same nose. 02 br
00 I think that this is o
01 cite 10 sebayanpendam 12 cite 10 This contradicts his previous explanation. I'm confused. 12 blockquote10 It's not exactly a contradiction. 02 br
00 Several doctors can, if necessary, share the same "bleeper", but students cannot under any circumstances share the same nose. 02 br
00 I think that this is o
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0 Hmm, I know what phrasing sounds right but I'm not sure if I'll be able to give a coherent answer as to why. 02 br
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00 The sentence "All doctors in the hospital carry their beepers" would be the equivalent of "All students in the classroom blow their noses," and to my ear at least, both sound correct. 02 br
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00 The problem in trying to compare the e
02 br
00 The sentence "All doctors in the hospital carry their beepers" would be the equivalent of "All students in the classroom blow their noses," and to my ear at least, both sound correct. 02 br
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00 The problem in trying to compare the e
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