Mister Micawber  +  79771 Wed, 09 Mar 05 09:50 AM None of these famous writers, however, had to take the TOEFL test, Jack. Mister Micawber Joined on Wed, Aug 4 2004 Yokohama Veteran Member 30,842 'The question is,' said Humpty Dumpty, 'which is to be master-- that's all.'

	just the truth  +  79776 Wed, 09 Mar 05 10:07 AM Why do ENLs choose this form? "Indeed, they has the advantages of embracing both sexes and feeling right in a wide variety of sentences." {S Pinker} A careful writer makes use of all of the language, so to avoid the use of such common words as 'everyone' just to satisfy a bad old rule doesn't sound very sensible to me. Wasn't there just recently a link given by someone here where it was noted that "everyone/their" would be acceptable on a TOEFL? just the truth Joined on Mon, Dec 27 2004 Regular Member 849 TOEFL

	Casi  +  79788 Wed, 09 Mar 05 11:09 AM 1. Because the two types of power are separately stated in their entirety (rather than phrased as 'braking and engine power'), the speaker seems to be considering them, and the listener seems to be urged to consider them, two different items-- a compound subject-- which would require are. If the sentence were phrased as 'breaking and engine power', I would choose 'is'. My opinion as well, and yet let us not forget, Explain why each of these is. . . . Casi Joined on Sat, Sep 25 2004 Regular Member 547 Compound Subjects

	Mister Micawber  +  79796 Wed, 09 Mar 05 12:31 PM Point taken, Casi. Does that leave us in an unsolvable dilemma? Mister Micawber

	MrPedantic  +  79827 Wed, 09 Mar 05 02:11 PM Hello Casi and Mister M. 'Explain why each of these is. . . .' Would this be a case of taking each item separately, I wonder? Answer A: 32kph. Answer B: 86kph. Explain why each of these answers is wrong. ----------------------------------------- Well, A is wrong because XYZ. And B is wrong because PQR. (Cf 'both of these are wrong'.) MrP MrPedantic Joined on Tue, Oct 12 2004 Veteran Member 12,592 ...opella forensis / adducit febris...

	jack112  +  80146 Thu, 10 Mar 05 02:30 PM Explain why each of these is. . . . So this is correct? 1. Can someone who thinks that displacement doesn't matter, explain to me why a lot of braking power and a lot of engine power is not relevant to an accident when the rider presumably panics before they crash? (I can use 'is' here? What if I use 'are'? Is that correct as well? What is the difference in meaing when I use 'is' versus 'are'? Also, could you rearrange the sentence or something to show me how 'is' is correct there? I still can't see it. ) Thanks. jack112 Joined on Thu, Jul 22 2004 Regular Member 715

	MrPedantic  +  80155 Thu, 10 Mar 05 02:44 PM Maybe: 1. Can someone who thinks that displacement doesn't matter explain to me why a lot of braking power on the one hand, and a lot of engine power on the other, is not relevant to an accident when the rider presumably panics before they crash? MrP MrPedantic

	jack112  +  80281 Thu, 10 Mar 05 10:36 PM 1. Can someone who thinks that displacement doesn't matter explain to me why a lot of braking power on the one hand, and a lot of engine power on the other, is not relevant to an accident when the rider presumably panics before they crash? Sorry, I still don't really understand that sentence formation. 1. So 'a lot of braking power and a lot of engine power' is viewed as one whole thing for the quote above?? 2. What if I used 'are', what would the sentence mean? (Does it just mean 'two things' when I use 'are'?) Thanks. jack112

	Casi  +  80365 Fri, 11 Mar 05 10:04 AM Separately (each one): Explain why each one is not relevant to an accident . . . . Together (they): Explain why they are not relevant to an accident . . . . Casi