Quote:
Originally Posted by Humble  Tnx, Bob,
Good, I didn't know that.
Another question:
a) Moscow underground stations are beautiful.
b) The Moscow underground is beautiful.
c) Moscow's underground is always overcrowded.
d) The Moscow underground's stations are nice.
Which of these are incorrect?
TIA |
On the cooking/cuisine point: as a general rule, things with French names cost more! People in Britain used to sell 'scent', until some enterprising chemist realized he could get more for it by calling it 'perfume'. Going back to the Norman conquest, after which the rich talked French while the peasants talked English, sorts of meat became Frenchified when they moved from the farmyard to the high table: sheep -> mutton (mouton), cow -> beef (boeuf), pig -> pork (porc).
Revenons a ces moutons:
You're doing yourself down a bit by saying 'Which of these are incorrect?' - which implies that at least two are. Which I don't think is the case.
a,b and d sound a bit foreign (possibly because referring to the beauty of an underground station feels somewhat unEnglish to me!). But I wouldn't say that any of them was incorrect, depending on context: d might occur in a context where you were contrasting the underground systems of different cities: "Stations on the Paris Metro are ... but the Moscow underground's stations are..." (the primary stress in the phrase "Moscow's underground" would, in that case, be on the first syllable).
c sounds fine to me. Again, context would decide whether it would be more natural to say 'The Moscow underground is always overcrowded'.
b