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Russkiy Bear Posted 12 years ago
Grammar
What colour eyes....
I've just stumbled on this sentence What colour eyes does she have? in my grammar book. What got me interested in this is the combination of the words colour, eyes with what and without any prepositions.
I just assume a construction like this is possible with some particular words such as colour, form, shape, size and so on. These words have ranges or multiple possibilities.
Let me try this out.
What size sofa did you buy? Since I think it's similar to what kind of car do you have construction, I don't have to use an article before sofa
What shape pancakes does the shop sell?
Are these 2 correct / possible ? They make sense?Any thoughts on this? Am I even right or it's just an insane theory? haha
I just assume a construction like this is possible with some particular words such as colour, form, shape, size and so on. These words have ranges or multiple possibilities.
Let me try this out.
What size sofa did you buy? Since I think it's similar to what kind of car do you have construction, I don't have to use an article before sofa
What shape pancakes does the shop sell?
Are these 2 correct / possible ? They make sense?Any thoughts on this? Am I even right or it's just an insane theory? haha
Top answer
Russkiy Bear What size sofa did you buy? OK. Russkiy Bear What shape pancakes does the shop sell?
- Russkiy Bear What size sofa did you buy?
- OK.
- Russkiy Bear What shape pancakes does the shop sell?
- OK.
- Also: What size shoes do you wear?
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3 Answers
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Russkiy BearWhat size sofa did you buy?OK.
Russkiy BearWhat shape pancakes does the shop sell?OK. Also:
What size shoes do you wear?
What flavor ice cream do you like?
What price car can you afford?
All of these, I think, would be considered informal.
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If they're considered informal, what would be the normal way of putting this?
What about the use of an article in, let's say,What size of (a) sofa did you buy? needed or optional?
What about the use of an article in, let's say,What size of (a) sofa did you buy? needed or optional?
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Russkiy BearIf they're considered informal, what would be the normal way of putting this?Informal is normal. I do not wish to disparage the expression. The insertion of 'of (a)' just seems awkward to me, without any increase in formality, really.
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