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Yoong Liat Posted 19 years ago
Grammar

Which sentences are correct?

01. Any of the two books is useful. 02br
002. Either of the two books is useful. 02br
003. Either book is useful. 02br
02br
00Which of the sentences is/are correct? Or are all incorrect?0-
  

Top answer

0 They all seem fine to me. 0-

— Ruslana

  • 0 They all seem fine to me.
  • 0-
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22 Answers
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0 They all seem fine to me. 0-
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0 01blockquote
01cite10Ruslana12cite10They all seem fine to me.12blockquote
101. Any of the two books is useful. 02br
002. Either of the two books is useful. 02br
003. Either book is useful. 02br
02br
00A native speaker told me all the sentences are incorrect. I agree with him that the fir
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0 "A native speaker told me all the sentences are incorrect."02br
00A native speaker of other than the English language? 05002br
00all sentences have good grammar02br
02br
00"What puzzles me is why 'IS' is wrong, but 'MAY BE' is correct."02br
00And what puzzles 'me is how a native can say such nonsense.010id1
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0 May I hear from other native speakers. 0-
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0Lol, Incho.01blockquote
01cite10Yoong Liat12cite10I agree with him that the first sentence is incorrect because 'any' refers to more than two items. 12blockquote
10It may refer to more than 2 items, but I don't think it's wrong to use "any" when only 2 items are implied.02br
02br
00Both IS and MAY BE sound fine
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1font00"Any02font00 used as a pronoun is followed by a singular or plural verb depending on the intended meaning: 00Any of these suggestions is acceptable.00 [i.e., any one of the suggestions is acceptable]. 00Are any of the children00 [i.e.00 01font00more than one00 02font00of sever
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0 I would certainly not say "01u00any02u00 of the 01u00two02u00".02br
02br
01i00Either ... is02i00 (though grammatically correct) often connotes one 01u00or02u00 the other 01u00but not both02u00. This may be the meaning sensed by the person who objects to 01i
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0 01blockquote
01cite10Yoong Liat12cite12br
101. Any of the two books is useful. 12br
102. Either of the two books is useful. 12br
103. Either book is useful. 12br
12br
10Which of the sentences is/are correct? Or are all incorrect?12br
12br
12blockquote
11font
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0 01blockquote
01cite10CalifJim12cite10I would certainly not say "11u10any12u10 of the 11u10two12u10".12br
12br
11i10Either ... is12i10 (though grammatically correct) often connotes one 11u10or12u10 the other 11u10but not both12u
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0Goodman wrote, 'Either book is useful. 01font00ok, but there could be more than 2 books, perhaps 3; meaning either book A, B or C could be useful..'02font02br
02br
01font00'Either' refers to one of two items. Therefore, I do not agree with Goodman that perhaps there are 3 books.02font02br
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