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Dragon-feeders Posted 11 years ago
Grammar

Two out of three people who were present agreed

I'd appreciate it if someone would answer my question about the following 3 sentences. Thanks in advance.

A: Two out of three people who were present agreed with the proposal.

B: Two out of the three people who were present agreed with the proposal.

C: Two out of every three people who were present agreed with the proposal.

I think B means 3 people were present and 2 people agreed with the proposal, and C means more than 3 people (probably a lot of people) were present and two-thirds of them agreed with the proposal.

Then how about A? Does A mean what B means or what C means?
  

Top answer

I agree with your assessment of B and C. " would refer to two thirds of a large group, but the "who were present" here muddies the waters. In the absence of further context, I think it could be interpreted either way.

— Blue Jay

  • I agree with your assessment of B and C.
  • " would refer to two thirds of a large group, but the "who were present" here muddies the waters.
  • In the absence of further context, I think it could be interpreted either way.
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2 Answers
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I agree with your assessment of B and C. In most situations "Two out of three people agreed with...." would refer to two thirds of a large group, but the "who were present" here muddies the waters. In the absence of further context, I think it could be interpreted either way.
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