is it correct in grammar to compare a plural noun to a singular noun?
up vote
1
down vote
favorite
For example, "their salaries are higher than mine". Is this sentence grammatically correct? Or we have to say "each of their salaries is higher than mine"?
singular-vs-plural comparative-constructions
edited 3 hours ago
Nathan Tuggy
9,12493452
asked 4 hours ago
Renee
61
New contributor
Renee is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
add a comment |
up vote
1
down vote
favorite
For example, "their salaries are higher than mine". Is this sentence grammatically correct? Or we have to say "each of their salaries is higher than mine"?
singular-vs-plural comparative-constructions
edited 3 hours ago
Nathan Tuggy
9,12493452
asked 4 hours ago
Renee
61
New contributor
Renee is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
add a comment |
up vote
1
down vote
favorite
up vote
1
down vote
favorite
For example, "their salaries are higher than mine". Is this sentence grammatically correct? Or we have to say "each of their salaries is higher than mine"?
singular-vs-plural comparative-constructions
edited 3 hours ago
Nathan Tuggy
9,12493452
asked 4 hours ago
Renee
61
New contributor
Renee is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
For example, "their salaries are higher than mine". Is this sentence grammatically correct? Or we have to say "each of their salaries is higher than mine"?
singular-vs-plural comparative-constructions
singular-vs-plural comparative-constructions
edited 3 hours ago
Nathan Tuggy
9,12493452
asked 4 hours ago
Renee
61
New contributor
Renee is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
edited 3 hours ago
Nathan Tuggy
9,12493452
asked 4 hours ago
Renee
61
New contributor
Renee is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
edited 3 hours ago
Nathan Tuggy
9,12493452
edited 3 hours ago
Nathan Tuggy
9,12493452
edited 3 hours ago
Nathan Tuggy
9,12493452
9,12493452
asked 4 hours ago
Renee
61
New contributor
Renee is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
asked 4 hours ago
Renee
61
asked 4 hours ago
Renee
61
61
New contributor
Renee is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
New contributor
Renee is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
Renee is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
add a comment |
add a comment |
1 Answer
1
active
oldest
votes
up vote
5
down vote
No need to make English harder than it is already. There is no rule prohibiting comparing groups of things with individual things.
There are some cases where comparing a group to an individual can create an ambiguous statement: those five people have more money than I do. Does this mean that each of the five people has more money than I do, or that the sum of the five people's money is greater than the amount of money I have? There's no way to tell without more context.
We could remove the ambiguity by using a form like the one you suggested at the end of the question: each of those five people has more money than I do. This is not any more grammatical (because the first was perfectly grammatical), but it is less ambiguous.
answered 4 hours ago
Juhasz
8974
add a comment |
Your Answer
StackExchange.ready(function() {
var channelOptions = {
tags: "".split(" "),
id: "481"
};
initTagRenderer("".split(" "), "".split(" "), channelOptions);
StackExchange.using("externalEditor", function() {
// Have to fire editor after snippets, if snippets enabled
if (StackExchange.settings.snippets.snippetsEnabled) {
StackExchange.using("snippets", function() {
createEditor();
});
}
else {
createEditor();
}
});
function createEditor() {
StackExchange.prepareEditor({
heartbeatType: 'answer',
autoActivateHeartbeat: false,
convertImagesToLinks: false,
noModals: true,
showLowRepImageUploadWarning: true,
reputationToPostImages: null,
bindNavPrevention: true,
postfix: "",
imageUploader: {
brandingHtml: "Powered by u003ca class="icon-imgur-white" href="https://imgur.com/"u003eu003c/au003e",
contentPolicyHtml: "User contributions licensed under u003ca href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/"u003ecc by-sa 3.0 with attribution requiredu003c/au003e u003ca href="https://stackoverflow.com/legal/content-policy"u003e(content policy)u003c/au003e",
allowUrls: true
},
noCode: true, onDemand: true,
discardSelector: ".discard-answer"
,immediatelyShowMarkdownHelp:true
});
}
});
Renee is a new contributor. Be nice, and check out our Code of Conduct.
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function () {
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
});
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
StackExchange.ready(
function () {
StackExchange.openid.initPostLogin('.new-post-login', 'https%3a%2f%2fell.stackexchange.com%2fquestions%2f190036%2fis-it-correct-in-grammar-to-compare-a-plural-noun-to-a-singular-noun%23new-answer', 'question_page');
}
);
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
1 Answer
1
active
oldest
votes
1 Answer
1
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
up vote
5
down vote
No need to make English harder than it is already. There is no rule prohibiting comparing groups of things with individual things.
There are some cases where comparing a group to an individual can create an ambiguous statement: those five people have more money than I do. Does this mean that each of the five people has more money than I do, or that the sum of the five people's money is greater than the amount of money I have? There's no way to tell without more context.
We could remove the ambiguity by using a form like the one you suggested at the end of the question: each of those five people has more money than I do. This is not any more grammatical (because the first was perfectly grammatical), but it is less ambiguous.
answered 4 hours ago
Juhasz
8974
add a comment |
up vote
5
down vote
No need to make English harder than it is already. There is no rule prohibiting comparing groups of things with individual things.
There are some cases where comparing a group to an individual can create an ambiguous statement: those five people have more money than I do. Does this mean that each of the five people has more money than I do, or that the sum of the five people's money is greater than the amount of money I have? There's no way to tell without more context.
We could remove the ambiguity by using a form like the one you suggested at the end of the question: each of those five people has more money than I do. This is not any more grammatical (because the first was perfectly grammatical), but it is less ambiguous.
answered 4 hours ago
Juhasz
8974
add a comment |
up vote
5
down vote
up vote
5
down vote
No need to make English harder than it is already. There is no rule prohibiting comparing groups of things with individual things.
There are some cases where comparing a group to an individual can create an ambiguous statement: those five people have more money than I do. Does this mean that each of the five people has more money than I do, or that the sum of the five people's money is greater than the amount of money I have? There's no way to tell without more context.
We could remove the ambiguity by using a form like the one you suggested at the end of the question: each of those five people has more money than I do. This is not any more grammatical (because the first was perfectly grammatical), but it is less ambiguous.
answered 4 hours ago
Juhasz
8974
No need to make English harder than it is already. There is no rule prohibiting comparing groups of things with individual things.
There are some cases where comparing a group to an individual can create an ambiguous statement: those five people have more money than I do. Does this mean that each of the five people has more money than I do, or that the sum of the five people's money is greater than the amount of money I have? There's no way to tell without more context.
We could remove the ambiguity by using a form like the one you suggested at the end of the question: each of those five people has more money than I do. This is not any more grammatical (because the first was perfectly grammatical), but it is less ambiguous.
answered 4 hours ago
Juhasz
8974
answered 4 hours ago
Juhasz
8974
answered 4 hours ago
Juhasz
8974
answered 4 hours ago
Juhasz
8974
8974
add a comment |
add a comment |
Renee is a new contributor. Be nice, and check out our Code of Conduct.
Renee is a new contributor. Be nice, and check out our Code of Conduct.
Renee is a new contributor. Be nice, and check out our Code of Conduct.
Renee is a new contributor. Be nice, and check out our Code of Conduct.
Thanks for contributing an answer to English Language Learners Stack Exchange!
- Please be sure to answer the question. Provide details and share your research!
But avoid …
- Asking for help, clarification, or responding to other answers.
- Making statements based on opinion; back them up with references or personal experience.
To learn more, see our tips on writing great answers.
Some of your past answers have not been well-received, and you're in danger of being blocked from answering.
Please pay close attention to the following guidance:
- Please be sure to answer the question. Provide details and share your research!
But avoid …
- Asking for help, clarification, or responding to other answers.
- Making statements based on opinion; back them up with references or personal experience.
To learn more, see our tips on writing great answers.
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function () {
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
});
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
StackExchange.ready(
function () {
StackExchange.openid.initPostLogin('.new-post-login', 'https%3a%2f%2fell.stackexchange.com%2fquestions%2f190036%2fis-it-correct-in-grammar-to-compare-a-plural-noun-to-a-singular-noun%23new-answer', 'question_page');
}
);
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function () {
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
});
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function () {
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
});
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function () {
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
});
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
