one or two

[notletrest]

"..."explains M.J. Ryan, author of the 2006 book This Year I Will... and Mr, Markova' business partner.
My trouble is in the above, Ryan and partner are two persons or one?
Thanks!

[Rover_KE]

Two.

[emsr2d2]

"..."explains M.J. Ryan, author of the 2006 book This Year I Will... and Mr, Markova' business partner.
My trouble is in the above, Ryan and partner are two persons or one?
Thanks!

Two.

M J Ryan is the author of the 2006 book and he is also Mr Markova's business partner.

M J Ryan is one person. Mr Markova is another person. Two people are mentioned, but M J Ryan is just one person.

[notletrest]

Two.

M J Ryan is the author of the 2006 book and he is also Mr Markova's business partner.

M J Ryan is one person. Mr Markova is another person. Two people are mentioned, but M J Ryan is just one person.

Sorry . I beg your parden! My question is clear that Mr Ryan and the "partner" are two persons or one person. But your answer is contradictious, I am afraid. First ,you said " two" , but laterr you said " M J Ryan is the author of the 2006 book and he is also Mr Markova's business partner." That is to say one person is referred. Of course, I know Mr Ryan and Mr Markova are two persons, a three year child knows it.
Thanks!

[emsr2d2]

Sorry . I beg your parden! My question is clear that Mr Ryan and the "partner" are two persons or one person. But your answer is contradictious, I am afraid. First ,you said " two" , but laterr you said " M J Ryan is the author of the 2006 book and he is also Mr Markova's business partner." That is to say one person is referred. Of course, I know Mr Ryan and Mr Markova are two persons, a three year child knows it.
Thanks!

Your question read "Ryan and partner are two persons or one?" I took that literally - to mean "Are Ryan, and partner, two different people or are they the same person?"

I realise now that you wanted to know whether or not there were two people or three in total in the piece, which would be the case if "M J Ryan" were one person, "Markov's business partner" was another and "Markov" was a third.

However, no, M J Ryan is also the business partner of Markov so in total, two people are mentioned in the piece. In my original reply where I wrote "two" I meant "M J Ryan and his partner are two people".

[5jj]

Sorry . I beg your parden! My question is clear that Mr Ryan and the "partner" are two persons or one person. But your answer is contradictious contains a contradiction, I am afraid. First ,you said " two" , but laterr you said " M J Ryan is the author of the 2006 book and he is also Mr Markova's business partner." That is to say one person is referred to. Of course, I know Mr Ryan and Mr Markova are two persons, a three year child knows it.

A three-year-old child might have framed the initial question more clearly.

[Rover_KE]

A three-year-old child might have framed the initial question more clearly.

(...love the word contradictious, notletrest, but you mean contradictory.)

[notletrest]

A three-year-old child might have framed the initial question more clearly.

All of you, KE,5JJ,and 2d2, are very strict teachers ,from whom I learned a lot. Thank you indeed.
1. My initial and real question is whether Mr Ryan and the partner are
the same person. In order to simplify my meaning online, I said like that. They are two persons, I am afraid.
2. According to my English- Chinese dictionary, 'contradictious" means contradictory(archaic), and my Oxford Concise Dictionary ,1964, gives contradictory the last meaning of "contradictous.", without note of "archaic". By the way ,please say something about the difference between contradictory and paradoxical.
3. Why we can say "a three hour time , a three mile distance ' but we can't say " a three year child "?
4. I further know the difference between refer and refer to with your help..Thanks.

[notletrest]

All of you, KE,5JJ,and 2d2, are very strict teachers ,from whom I learned a lot. Thank you indeed.
2. According to my English- Chinese dictionary, 'contradictious" means contradictory(archaic), and my Oxford Concise Dictionary ,1964, gives contradictory the last meaning of "contradictous.", without note of "archaic". By the way ,please say something about the difference between contradictory and paradoxical.
3. Why we can say "a three hour time , a three mile distance ' but we can't say " a three year child "?
4. I further know the difference between refer and refer to with your help..Thanks.

As for 1. I come to know Mr Ryan and the partner must be one person , because the predicate is used in the third singlar person. I am so careless!

[Rover_KE]

Notletrest, please start a new topic for each of your unrelated questions.

Rover