1Likes -
1 Post By billmcd
-
With/To A Certainty
1. "It will happen with a certainty."
2. "It will happen to a certainty."
3. "I could determine the outcome with a certainty."
4. "I could determine the outcome to a certainty."
Could someone tell me which of these are false English?
-
Re: With/To A Certainty

Originally Posted by
yelsevent
1. "It will happen with a certainty."
2. "It will happen to a certainty."
3. "I could determine the outcome with a certainty."
4. "I could determine the outcome to a certainty."
Could someone tell me which of these are false English?
None are correct. The article, "a" is not neessary, but even without the article, #'s 2 and 4 are incorrect.
-
Re: With/To A Certainty
After making a few changes:
1. "It will happen with an absolute certainty."
2. "It will happen to an absolute certainty."
3. "I could determine the outcome with an absolute certainty."
4. "I could determine the outcome to an absolute certainty."
Would some of these sentence be genuine English?
-
Re: With/To A Certainty
Billmcd just told you the article isn't necessary.
This will happen with certainty. (Not very natural)
This will happen - I say that with absolute certainty. (Better)
I can tell you, with absolute certainty, that this will happen. (Most common)
-
Re: With/To A Certainty

Originally Posted by
yelsevent
1. "It will happen with an absolute certainty."
2. "It will happen to an absolute certainty."
3. "I could determine the outcome with an absolute certainty."
4. "I could determine the outcome to an absolute certainty."
Would some of these sentence be genuine English?
I would not go so far as to say 'genuine English', but #1 and #3 might be just about acceptable - if you drop 'an'.
In my opinion, we are far more likely to say, "It is (absolutely) certain that it will happen".
Similar Threads
-
By Waawe in forum Ask a Teacher
Replies: 1
Last Post: 22-May-2011, 14:19
-
By ostap77 in forum Ask a Teacher
Replies: 5
Last Post: 12-Oct-2010, 08:45
-
By Volcano1985 in forum Ask a Teacher
Replies: 4
Last Post: 02-Mar-2009, 18:32
-
By andyc in forum Ask a Teacher
Replies: 1
Last Post: 03-May-2006, 06:37
-
By jose maria in forum Ask a Teacher
Replies: 5
Last Post: 13-May-2005, 15:54
Posting Permissions
- You may not post new threads
- You may not post replies
- You may not post attachments
- You may not edit your posts
-
Forum Rules

Search Engine Optimization by
vBSEO 3.6.1