Search results for 'tag:Difference between tag:Plurals' matching tags 'Difference between' and 'Plurals'

Re: Correct

Clive — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 03:30:38 GMT

Hi,
1. The decision that has just been agreed with by the committee members should serve as a basis for their work in the years to come.
On my book, it says the underlined part should be corrected: agreed to. I am just wondering what's the difference between the two. When do I use one or the other?

If I agree with something, I say 'That sounds like a good idea'.
If I agree to something, I say 'Yes. OK.'. In other words, I give my assent, my permission.

eg I agree with the government's decision to ban guns, but the government didn't ask me to agree to it. They just went ahead without needing my permission.

2. Flints found in the region extending from the Nile Valley to the highlands of eastern Iraq attests to the presence of people there as long ago as one hundred thousand years.
Well, it's a long sentence and I can't really break it down to pieces. It says the underlined part is wrong. Why? The subject is the plural 'flints', so the verb must also be plural. How should it be corrected? ie Flints . . . attest to . . .

Also, the phrase found in sounds awkward to me. I mean if the sentence is like: Flints found in the region .., there was .. Then it makes more sense. I hope you can analyze it for me. Thank you very much. The phrase is fine. The long version would be

Flints ( that have been found in the region extending from the Nile Valley to the highlands of eastern Iraq ) attest to the presence of . . .

Best wishes, Clive

Re: sell away

Avangi — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 06:42:51 GMT

New2grammar
what's the difference between sell off and sell away?

Probably not much. "Sell off" is more common, and would be considered a business strategy. "Sell away," as in this case, would be reluctantly getting rid of something. I don't think it would be used much for a single item. I went along with it because of "lands" in the plural. If you say a rancher is selling off / away his herd you think of a few here and a few there, until perhaps they're all gone; as opposed to selling the whole herd in a single deal. (How did I get into this?) But if a guy is selling off his business, I suppose it could be one deal. Selling off his inventory could be a little at a time.

Sorry, I'm too tired to be doing this. I'm not answering your question. - A.

Re: Football / Ice hockey results and scores: How to write and talk

optilang — Sun, 15 Jun 2008 20:13:17 GMT

That is interesting indeed and I agree with you Old Man Gordon. I am from Finland and according to my Finnish-English dictionary I should say "Finland is leading 2-0" without using the plural verb and
"The Finns are leading 2-0" when using a plural expression. But I guess this is just a difference between British and American English.

I guess so. I am not from America or Finland.

Re: Football / Ice hockey results and scores: How to write and talk

EagerSeeker — Sun, 15 Jun 2008 20:04:46 GMT

Old Man Gordon

Optilang-

Is that how it is said on sportscasts in England? The team uses a plural verb, even if the noun (England/Manchester United/etc.) is singular? In the US, we'd use the plural only when talking about the team name which is usually plural, eg The Yakees are losing./ New York is losing.

It gets confusing with the modern innovation of uncountable team names. The Detroit Shock is winning (are winning?).

Re: These days people traveling abroad are increasing in number.

New2grammar — Sat, 24 May 2008 10:34:37 GMT

Optilang,

How about 'These days, an increasing number of people are travelling abroad"?

What's the difference between A and mine?

Also, should I use the plural numbers? I've seen the plural used in cases I've no idea.

Thanks in advance.

Re: Plurals of abbreviations - 1990's or 1990s

Anonymous — Fri, 02 May 2008 22:33:21 GMT

I think the p's and q's argument is most salient here. The apostrophe is used for the sake of clarity. While conventionally used for the possessive, the apostrophe is also used to indicate vernacular omissions and contractions, such as in the cases of "Ol' Dirty ***" or "N'awlins." This understadning of the usage of apostrophes is important for thinking about the 1990s/1990's problem. If you were to spell out the actual words 1990 and 1990s/1990's, you get the words "nineteen ninety" and "nineteen nineties." The difference between these two words is a "y" and an "ies." The possessive spelling of 1990's would be "nineteen ninety's," the plural, "nineteen nineties." The abbreviated representation of the possessive should clearly be 1990's, but what about the plural? One could argue that the apostrophe in this case stands for the omission of the "ie" in "nineteen nineties"

Re: help me solve the confusion

Grammar Geek — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 01:13:41 GMT

whose/whom - do you know the difference between his and him? Why don't you write a couple sentences in which you try to use them.

someone/some person - how would you like to use "some person"? It's more common to use "someone."

other person/people - person is singular and people is plural

anyone/anybody - very little difference.

Really the best thing to do is write a few sentences.

tip over vs flip over

New2grammar — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 13:08:31 GMT

At any speed above 50 mph, any normal car will [tip over/flip over] at a 90 degree turn.

Is there any difference between the choices? Also, should I make speed or car plural?

Thanks in advance!

A plural noun that becomes singular when you add s

HZhou — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 21:52:25 GMT

I'm sure many of you have heard of words such as bras, millionaires, and princes that become brass, millionairess, and princess respectively when the letter s is added to the end.

What I'd like to know: is there is a plural noun that, when it becomes singular after the addition of an s, still retains its original meaning? Princes comes close, but there is quite an obvious difference between prince and princess.

Is there such a noun, or am I searching in vain?

Re: comet

RayH — Sat, 29 Mar 2008 14:51:21 GMT

Anonymous
can I ask whats difference between Comet and meteor

If you're asking if this sentence is correct then I would suggest making both comet and meteor plural thus "Whats difference between Comets and meteors."
If you want a description of what comets are and what meteors are then I would suggest using Google. You will find many pages of description for each.