Teo  +  183042 Sat, 14 Jan 06 09:55 AM Billy is more popular than ___ in the class. (A) all other (B) all the boys (C) all the others (D) all other boys What do you think is the correct answer? Teo Joined on Tue, Sep 28 2004 Taiwan Contributing Member 1,631 Thank you very much for your reply.

	Danyoo  +  183070 Sat, 14 Jan 06 12:09 PM Billy is more popular than ___ in the class. (A) all other (B) all the boys (C) all the others (D) all other boys D is the right answer.  But I am not sure how I can explain it. A: 'All others' not 'all other' B: Since Billy is a boy, it would be okay to say 'any of the girls' C: You are not comparing Billy  to any specific 'other' boy.  Rather to any or all 'other.' Danyoo Joined on Fri, Nov 11 2005 Chicago, USA Regular Member 558 To err is human, to forgive divine. 잘못을 저지르는 것은 인간이지만 용서할수있는 것은 하늘과 같은것.

	MrPedantic  +  183087 Sat, 14 Jan 06 12:55 PM Interesting. I would choose C; but D seems fine too. My preferred answer would be: E: any other boy MrP MrPedantic Joined on Tue, Oct 12 2004 Veteran Member 12,592 ...opella forensis / adducit febris...

	Clive  +  183171 Sat, 14 Jan 06 05:02 PM Hi, Billy is more popular than ___ in the class. (A) all other (B) all the boys (C) all the others (D) all other boys If I may be a little contrary, this kind of exercise expects you to make assumptions about the context and expects you to make the assumption the tester expects. If you assume Billy is not in the class, then B is fine. There's also some cultural specificity built into the question. Half of my students don't even know that 'Billy' is usually a boy's name. Best wishes, Clive Clive Joined on Thu, Oct 28 2004 Canada Veteran Member 29,612 El tango argentino es un pensamiento triste que se puede bailar (The tango argentino is a sad thought which can be danced) Enrique Santos Discépolo

	MrPedantic  +  183346 Sun, 15 Jan 06 12:54 AM To judge by the diversity of responses, it seems to be another case of "poorly constructed question". MrP MrPedantic

	MrPedantic  +  183812 Sun, 15 Jan 06 10:42 PM Hello Teo Thanks for the link. The poster called Alan states that 1. New York is bigger than all other cities in the US. is more informal than 2. New York is bigger than all the other cities in the US. I can think of no justification for this opinion. It seems to me that both are equally grammatical; and both might be found either in formal or informal contexts. I would say that the difference is slight; but it seems to me that #2 is the plain, neutral statement, whereas #1 lends itself to a more emphatic utterance (stress on "all other cities"). (I would post this comment on the English Club thread; but to judge by the "conditions", it's some kind of closed shop, and only lets its own chosen few "answer" posts.) MrP MrPedantic

	CalifJim  +  183826 Sun, 15 Jan 06 11:10 PM "other cities" is the indefinite plural.  "the other cities" is the definite plural. Since, theoretically, we can list "the other cities" (in the example at hand), i.e., at least somebody knows which cities they are, i.e., can 'define' them, make them 'definite', "the" seems to be the theoretically correct choice. On the other hand, presenting "other cities" as indefinite, i.e., "whichever cities they may be (provided we include all of them)" seems equally logical to me. So I, too, am hard pressed to see how the choice of whether to present the "others" in this sort of comparison as if they are known or as if they are unknown amounts to a choice of formal or informal. CJ CalifJim Joined on Mon, Aug 2 2004 California Veteran Member 22,399 "There are no facts, only interpretations" - Nietzsche Plurals