A dog and dogs

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Mister Micawber

#78780 Sun, 06 Mar 05 12:19 AM

To me, Yoko, there is no real difference when you are speaking of an animal or a kind of thing in general:

An orangutan can climb trees/Orangutans can climb trees
An apple is red and round/Apples are red and round
A Porche is a neat car/Porches are neat cars

Both forms are talking about any and all of these types of things. What is more important, when you are writing an essay, for example, is to be consistent:

'A baby deer can stand as soon as it is born. Spotted and wobbly, it soon staggers off after its mother, and within a few hours it will be gamboling about her, filled with the joy of new life.'

Mister Micawber

Joined on Wed, Aug 4 2004

Yokohama

Veteran Member (23,426)

'The question is,' said Humpty Dumpty, 'which is to be master-- that's all.'

Essays

Yoko

#79012 Sun, 06 Mar 05 10:11 PM

Thank you cacarr,

I am relieved to hear that there is no big difference,
and your explanation on the impression makes me think.
I might need to pay attention to it when I write in English.

Well, could I ask you a few more questions?

Some of my dictionaries say that "deer" is both the singular and the plural form.
In what case do you use the word "deers"?

And, what does "L2" mean in the phrase "English L2 speakers"?

Yoko

Joined on Tue, May 18 2004

Junior Member (56)

Plurals

Yoko

#79014 Sun, 06 Mar 05 10:14 PM

Hello Mister Micawber,

Thank you for providing me many example sentences.
They are simple and easy to understand.

I'll brush up on how to mention something in general based on your opinions.

Yoko

Mister Micawber

#79021 Sun, 06 Mar 05 10:23 PM

There is no 'deers' form, Yoko-- it is incorrect.

'English L2 speakers' = speakers of English as a second language.

Mister Micawber

English as a Second Language

Casi

#79053 Mon, 07 Mar 05 01:46 AM

Yoko:
Some of my dictionaries say that "deer" is both the singular and the plural form.

Additionally, Yoko,

There is one deer in the park.
There are two deer in the park.

"deer" doesn't take -s in the plural. It's a mass noun. But in my dialect, Canadian English, as I am sure American English shares the same colloquialism (?), it's acceptable:

There are two deers in the park.

Casi

Joined on Sat, Sep 25 2004

Regular Member (547)

American English, Plurals, Nouns, Dialects, Colloquialisms

paco2004

#79070 Mon, 07 Mar 05 02:42 AM

Hello Yoko san.

I'm an English learner from Japan. You too? The usage of English indefinite article 'a' is quite troublesome for us Japanese to get, because in our native tongue we don't use a word like English 'a' to modify/define countable nouns.

I think English speakers use 'a/an' basically in three ways.

(1) Used just to mean 'one' in a weak sense. In this use, 'an apple' might be paraphrased into ''an unspecified apple', or 'a not-particular apple'.
(EX-1) I ate an apple at the end of lunch and then I went out shopping with mother..

(2) Used to introduce a thing/a person which the speaker/writer wants to focus the hearer's/reder's attention on. In this sense, 'an apple' might be paraphrased into 'a certain apple'.
(EX-2) At the end of lunch I ate an apple. It was really delicious! I was very contented with the lunch.
What is important for this usage is you have to put some explanation about the thing you introduced.
(EX-3) I like a dog. His name is Mikky. I bought him last December for $50 at a pet shop nearby.
(EX-4) I like a dog. I like a cat too. But I like a dog better than a cat.
The EX-3 sounds not weird to me, but the EX-4 sounds weird. It would be better to say: "I like dogs. I like cats too. But I like dogs better than cats."

(3) Used to say something in a generic sense. This 'a' could be paraphrased into 'any'.
(EX-5) A dog is an animal. A cat is also an animal.
Usage of 'a' of this kind often appears in encyclopedia's articles and of this usage usually comes at the subject position.

paco

paco2004