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Ask for help > Grammaticality
Grammaticality
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t.javanshir
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Grammaticality
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Hi there,
Hope you are doing well. Two quick questions about grammar.
First, which of the underlined parts must be changed for the sentence to be correct?
The nurse said us to enter the room very quietly because the patient, who had just had an operation, might be sleeping.
Second, do we say: I want to talk about two procedures, "the fist is statistical analyses." or "the first are statistical analyses"?
Should the verb refer to "the first", which is singular, or to "analyses", which is plural? |
11 Dec 2013
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mohamedthabet
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- The part to change is " said us" and replace by "told us"
- the first (procedure of the 2) is = the verb agrees with the first that refers to procedure.
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11 Dec 2013
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dmharg
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I agree. It is either said to us or told us :) and analyses is not plural. It is singular and it is a Greek word that is why it ends in -es |
12 Dec 2013
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yanogator
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No, analysis is singular and analyses is plural. They are right that "The first" is the subject of the sentence, so the verb needs to be "is". Since "us" is underlined, and not "said", you can �t change "said" to "told", so it is definitely "us" that must be changed (to "to us"). Bruce |
12 Dec 2013
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mohamedthabet
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But, Bruce, we can �t say " said to us to enter"; we will have to make other changes then.
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12 Dec 2013
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yanogator
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Although it �s very awkward, we can say, "said to us to enter". Fortunately, the assignment was just to identify where a change is needed, not to provide the change. And, to stay entirely within the assignment, we could write, "The nurse said that we had to enter...". It�s quite a change, but it does all replace the incorrect "us". Bruce
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12 Dec 2013
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