[is/are] a condition and it's converse

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sharad

#250708 Mon, 31 Jul 06 08:08 AM

In Newtonian laws of motion, there [is/are] a condition and it's converse regarding bodies at rest and bodies in motion.
I know it's "are".. For some reason this sentence confused me.. It's probably use of "a". So wanted to confirm the answers from gurus..

sharad

Joined on Thu, Sep 23 2004

Junior Member (94)

milky

#250713 Mon, 31 Jul 06 08:20 AM

Sharad wrote:
In Newtonian laws of motion, there [is/are] a condition and it's converse regarding bodies at rest and bodies in motion.
I know it's "are".. For some reason this sentence confused me.. It's probably use of "a". So wanted to confirm the answers from gurus..

No, it's "is". The sentence has ellipsis of "and there is it's".

In Newtonian laws of motion, there is a condition and there is also its converse regarding bodies at rest and bodies in motion.

milky

Joined on Thu, Jan 15 2004

Senior Member (3,149)

Hume said that if we had perfect or complete descriptive knowledge of reality, we could not, by reasoning, derive a single valid "ought".

Inchoateknowledge

#250714 Mon, 31 Jul 06 08:20 AM

Sharad wrote:
In Newtonian laws of motion, there [is/are] a condition and it's= it is (and not its) converse regarding bodies at rest and bodies in motion. It should be is.
I know it's "are".. For some reason this sentence confused me.. It's probably use of "a". So wanted to confirm the answers from gurus..

I do not understand this sentence.

Inchoateknowledge

Joined on Wed, May 3 2006

Senior Member (2,541)

Beep! Beep! :)

milky

#250715 Mon, 31 Jul 06 08:22 AM

Inchoateknowledge wrote:
Sharad wrote:
In Newtonian laws of motion, there [is/are] a condition and it's= it is (and not its) converse regarding bodies at rest and bodies in motion. It should be is.
I know it's "are".. For some reason this sentence confused me.. It's probably use of "a". So wanted to confirm the answers from gurus..

I do not understand this sentence.

The "it's" should be "its", I think.

milky

Inchoateknowledge

#250716 Mon, 31 Jul 06 08:23 AM

So do I
It makes sense then

Inchoateknowledge

#250719 Mon, 31 Jul 06 08:25 AM

there are, because there are two things: a condition plus its converse.

Inchoateknowledge

sharad

#250720 Mon, 31 Jul 06 08:26 AM

sorry for creating the confusion over "it's". It's a typo in the original sentence. It is actually "its".

Thank you for your responses.. A quick qn..

how do you figure out whether there is an ellipsis ?

sharad

milky

#250725 Mon, 31 Jul 06 08:34 AM

Your question is a good example of how difficult it can be to figure out.

Many teachers would correct your sentence in this way:

But, if you had intended to ellipt ""or not", from the end of your question, it could be:

How do you figure out whether there is an ellipsis?

Because "whether" and "or" normally go together:

How do you figure out whether there is an ellipsis (or not)?

You should read up on ellipsis.

milky