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Nicetomeetyou Posted 10 years ago
Grammar

the light or the lights?

In general statements, which is more appropriate, 'light' or 'lights?'

Nothing is more dangerous than crossing the street before the light/lights turn green.
  

Top answer

When talking about traffic lights, "lights" is normal (though one would also refer to "a green light" or "a red light"). The slight problem I have with applying this to your sentence is that "the lights" normally refers to the signals controlling the traffic. So, you would expect to cross the road when "the lights" turn red, not green.

— GPY

  • When talking about traffic lights, "lights" is normal (though one would also refer to "a green light" or "a red light").
  • The slight problem I have with applying this to your sentence is that "the lights" normally refers to the signals controlling the traffic.
  • So, you would expect to cross the road when "the lights" turn red, not green.
  • I think you are referring to the signal to pedestrians.
  • To avoid confusion, I would probably look for another word or phrase.
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4 Answers
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When talking about traffic lights, "lights" is normal (though one would also refer to "a green light" or "a red light").

The slight problem I have with applying this to your sentence is that "the lights" normally refers to the signals controlling the traffic. So, you would expect to cross the road when "the lights" turn red, not green. I think you are referring to the signal to pedestrian
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What about the following sentence regarding that we are making a general statement?

Nothing is more dangerous than crossing a street when the light turns green.
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Persian LearnerNothing is more dangerous than crossing a street when the light turns green.
Nothing is more dangerous than crossing a street while/when the lights are green.

In this sentence I would expect "the lights" to be understood to mean the lights controlling the traffic. However, where you have lights controlling traffic, and als
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