Heidi L
Member
- Joined
- Jan 27, 2014
- Member Type
- Student or Learner
- Native Language
- Chinese
- Home Country
- Taiwan
- Current Location
- Taiwan
Dear teachers,
In the following sentences,
- I know the average human needs about eight hours of sleep, and this very large animal (referring to a giraffe) only needs twenty to two hours? That's incredible!
Here, 'the' average human or 'an' average human, which sounds natural to your ears?
I found some interesting sentences at http://www.did-you-knows.com/d...ow-facts/average.php. It seems that 'the' average human/person is more common.
- The average person falls asleep in 7 minutes.
- An average person will spend 25 years asleep.
- The average hen lays 228 eggs a year.
- The average person laughs 10 times a day.
- The average person will consume 100 tons of food and 45,424 liters of water in their lifetime.
- The average person goes to the toilet 6 times a day.
When we're referring to an ordinary person/human, not a specific one, why do we say 'the' instead of 'an' average person?
Thank you!
In the following sentences,
- I know the average human needs about eight hours of sleep, and this very large animal (referring to a giraffe) only needs twenty to two hours? That's incredible!
Here, 'the' average human or 'an' average human, which sounds natural to your ears?
I found some interesting sentences at http://www.did-you-knows.com/d...ow-facts/average.php. It seems that 'the' average human/person is more common.
- The average person falls asleep in 7 minutes.
- An average person will spend 25 years asleep.
- The average hen lays 228 eggs a year.
- The average person laughs 10 times a day.
- The average person will consume 100 tons of food and 45,424 liters of water in their lifetime.
- The average person goes to the toilet 6 times a day.
When we're referring to an ordinary person/human, not a specific one, why do we say 'the' instead of 'an' average person?
Thank you!