Simon Su
New member
- Joined
- Apr 14, 2013
- Member Type
- English Teacher
- Native Language
- Chinese
- Home Country
- Taiwan
- Current Location
- Taiwan
Is this sentence acceptable ?
a. Which animal runs the fastest, lions or tigers?
I mean, do I have to change which animal into which animals, like the following example ?
b. Which animals run the fastest, lions or tigers ?
When which is followed by a plural count noun in a question, does the speaker actually expect more than one answer ?
c. Which animals eat plants and meat ?
ANS: Bears, hedgehogs, Humans, ....
(from Which animals eat plants and meat)
And when which is followed by a singular count noun in a question, the speaker expects just one answer. Therefore, which followed by a singular count noun is grammatical in a. Although or connects two plural count nouns in a, it doesn't matter. Question a expects just one answer from the two choices (lions or tigers). Does anyone know what I am talking about ?
a. Which animal runs the fastest, lions or tigers?
I mean, do I have to change which animal into which animals, like the following example ?
b. Which animals run the fastest, lions or tigers ?
When which is followed by a plural count noun in a question, does the speaker actually expect more than one answer ?
c. Which animals eat plants and meat ?
ANS: Bears, hedgehogs, Humans, ....
(from Which animals eat plants and meat)
And when which is followed by a singular count noun in a question, the speaker expects just one answer. Therefore, which followed by a singular count noun is grammatical in a. Although or connects two plural count nouns in a, it doesn't matter. Question a expects just one answer from the two choices (lions or tigers). Does anyone know what I am talking about ?