hanuman_2000  +  487322 Tue, 11 Mar 08 09:15 AM Hello, 1. A postman wears a cap. I have to rewrite this sentence by changing all the souns in plural form.   2. The postmen wear the  caps. 3. Postmen wear  caps. Which one between 2 and 3 is correct? What are the rule? Shall I use the word 'the' or without 'the'? Thanks. hanuman_2000 Joined on Thu, Aug 12 2004 INDIA Contributing Member 1,644 Plurals

	Doll  +  487346 Tue, 11 Mar 08 10:51 AM My try:  A postman wears a cap.  You change this into:     Postmen wear caps. With this modification, all the nouns are turned into plural forms. But, if you say:  The postmen wear caps. With this sentence, you include all the postmen, without omitting anyone. Doll Joined on Sat, Mar 10 2007 Senior Member 2,806 Plurals, Nouns

	Yankee  +  487362 Tue, 11 Mar 08 11:18 AM I don't quite agree with that, Doll. "Postmen wear caps" suggests that you mean 'all postmen' -- i.e. no postmen are omitted. If you say 'the postmen' instead, that is not necessarily a reference to 'all postmen everywhere', but rather it is a reference to a specific group and in that limited group, all of the postmen wear caps.  In other words, there could be postmen who do not wear caps who are not part of the group referred to. Yankee Joined on Sat, Apr 15 2006 Connecticut, USA Veteran Member 6,406 Amy "You can't depend on your eyes when your imagination is out of focus." - Mark Twain

	Doll  +  487388 Tue, 11 Mar 08 12:10 PM Lol. I really feel surprised sometimes thinking that how I can assert the wrong thing. Hmm, that means I confuse all, the all, the.. structures. I will revise them!   I am so sorry for the wrong answer! ( But I still feel happy. I learn best from my mistakes.)   Doll