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  #21  
Old 23-Oct-2006, 22:46
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Default Re: A common error that is driving me nuts!

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Originally Posted by Tdol View Post
Should a curmudgeon encourage people towards life?
Bah Humbug!
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  #22  
Old 24-Oct-2006, 05:23
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Default Re: A common error that is driving me nuts!

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Bah Humbug!
Let's face it...if some of us got a life outside of the ESL Forum, we'd have people "snucking" all over the place!
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  #23  
Old 24-Oct-2006, 06:01
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Default Re: A common error that is driving me nuts!

Snucking humbug.
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  #24  
Old 24-Oct-2006, 08:09
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Default Re: A common error that is driving me nuts!

in fact, such problem is common in English teaching in china, we often regard the amount of money as a whole,it is the same with length and weight, in such cases, we should use singular:there is twenty pounds/there is a hundred pound. or there is ten metres. And about the the collective noun "team" (same as family, police, cow...), we use singular when we regard it as a whole: The family goes to Beijing every year.(that indicates the family as whole go to Beijing). cf: The family get their presents from Father Christmas. (the family here indicates all the members/each member of the family, so we regard it as a plural. Except the special occassion mentioned above, in other case, the predicate must be decided by the following real subject. This is what the grammar book teach me.
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  #25  
Old 24-Oct-2006, 10:24
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Default Re: A common error that is driving me nuts!

There's nothing wrong with that, though you will hear British English speakers, and BrE tends to be the form taught in the EU, use different forms.
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  #26  
Old 24-Oct-2006, 16:56
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Default Re: A common error that is driving me nuts!

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Originally Posted by sallyhoudongmei View Post
in fact, such problem is common in English teaching in china, we often regard the amount of money as a whole,it is the same with length and weight, in such cases, we should use singular:there is twenty pounds/there is a hundred pound. or there is ten metres. And about the the collective noun "team" (same as family, police, cow...), we use singular when we regard it as a whole: The family goes to Beijing every year.(that indicates the family as whole go to Beijing). cf: The family get their presents from Father Christmas. (the family here indicates all the members/each member of the family, so we regard it as a plural. Except the special occassion mentioned above, in other case, the predicate must be decided by the following real subject. This is what the grammar book teach me.
That is basically the way it is in American English.
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