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Thread: a cable at each desk?

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    Tack is offline Junior Member
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    Default a cable at each desk?

    I'm writing an e-mail related to an IT project.

    Are the lines below sounds fine/funny?

    I am confused with how I should play with countable nouns.
    1. In my office there are LAN cables for everybody.
    2. Everyone has a LAN cable at their desk.
    3. There is a LAN cable for each employee.
    4. There is a LAN cable at each desk.

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    Default Re: a cable at each desk?

    Quote Originally Posted by Tack View Post
    I'm writing an e-mail related to an IT project.

    Are the lines below sounds fine/funny?

    I am confused with how I should play with countable nouns.
    1. In my office there are LAN cables for everybody.
    2. Everyone has a LAN cable at their desk.
    3. There is a LAN cable for each employee.
    4. There is a LAN cable at each desk.
    All four are acceptable.

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    Default Re: a cable at each desk?

    Are do the lines below sounds fine/funny?
    Last edited by 5jj; 11-Oct-2011 at 10:26.

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    emsr2d2 is online now VIP Member
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    Default Re: a cable at each desk?

    Quote Originally Posted by fivejedjon View Post
    Are Do the lines below sounds fine/funny?

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    Tack is offline Junior Member
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    Default Re: a cable at each desk?

    Quote Originally Posted by bhaisahab View Post
    All four are acceptable.
    That's a good news

    But look what's just been pointed out by other teachers.

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    Tack is offline Junior Member
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    Default Re: a cable at each desk?

    Quote Originally Posted by emsr2d2 View Post
    Quote Originally Posted by fivejedjon View Post
    Are do the lines below sounds fine/funny?
    I can't believe how stupid I am...

    Thanks

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    Default Re: a cable at each desk?

    Quote Originally Posted by Tack View Post
    That's a good news
    But look what's just been pointed out by other teachers.
    And look what this one has just pointed out.
    emsr2d2 likes this.

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    Tack is offline Junior Member
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    Default Re: a cable at each desk?

    Quote Originally Posted by fivejedjon View Post
    And look what this one has just pointed out.
    I just have googled it.
    "that's a good news" = > 9 million hits.. are they all written by non-native english speakers?

    "that's good news" => 18 million hits.

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    SoothingDave is offline Key Member
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    Default Re: a cable at each desk?

    "that's a good news" = > 9 million hits.. are they all written by non-native english speakers?
    Either that, or taken out of context. Perusing the first page of Google hits shows that.
    Last edited by SoothingDave; 13-Oct-2011 at 01:06.
    bhaisahab and 5jj like this.

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    Default Re: a cable at each desk?

    As we say so often in these forums, millions of google hits prove nothing at all about usage. The best places to check whether native speakers use a particular construction are corpora such as Corpus of Contemporary American English (COCA) and British National Corpus (BYU-BNC).

    Neither of these records 'what a good news' - not one single example.
    bhaisahab likes this.

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