it or one

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jasonlulu_2000

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If you are interested in any one of the books on the shelf ,I’ll buy and send _________ to you as a gift.
A. one B. it

I think both are acceptable in some way.

What do you think of it?

Thanks!

Jason
 

MikeNewYork

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If you are interested in any one of the books on the shelf ,I’ll buy and send _________ to you as a gift.
A. one B. it

I think both are acceptable in some way.

What do you think of it?

Thanks!

Jason
I agree.
 

Raymott

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If you are interested in any one of the books on the shelf, I’ll buy (is 'it' missing here?) and send _________ to you as a gift.
A. one B. it
If the missing word is "it", the answer is "it". If the missing word is "one", the answer is "it".
If all the books are different, the answer is "it". If there are multiple copies of some books, the answer is, "I'll buy a copy and send "it" to you. I don't think I could use "one" in that sentence, but then, it's not complete. "I'll buy and send one to you" doesn't sound natural to me.
 

MikeNewYork

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If the missing word is "it", the answer is "it". If the missing word is "one", the answer is "it".
If all the books are different, the answer is "it". If there are multiple copies of some books, the answer is, "I'll buy a copy and send "it" to you. I don't think I could use "one" in that sentence, but then, it's not complete. "I'll buy and send one to you" doesn't sound natural to me.

For me, that is an overanalysis of the sentence.
 

Raymott

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For me, that is an overanalysis of the sentence.
Maybe, but that's what we do here. :)
In any case, I had an immediate aversion to 'one' as soon as I read it. My 'overanalysis' was not necessary in coming to the conclusion, (which was immediately intuitive). It's simply an explanation of my reasons.
OK, I'll just say, "I'd choose 'it'." But I'd still be interesting in knowing whether the sentence was complete.
 

MikeNewYork

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Maybe, but that's what we do here. :)
In any case, I had an immediate aversion to 'one' as soon as I read it. My 'overanalysis' was not necessary in coming to the conclusion, (which was immediately intuitive). It's simply an explanation of my reasons.
OK, I'll just say, "I'd choose 'it'." But I'd still be interesting in knowing whether the sentence was complete.

Fair enough.
 

bigC

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Can I assume that:

when "one" is used, the speaker will just send any one book to the receiver.

When "it" is used, the speaker will only send the book which the book receiver is interested in.
 

Raymott

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Can I assume that:

when "one" is used, the speaker will just send any one book to the receiver. No

When "it" is used, the speaker will only send the book which the book receiver is interested in. One would hope so.
That depends on a more extensive analysis of the sentence. We don't know if it's correct yet, until jason confirms whether there is a pronoun after "buy" - since this could make a difference.
But the concept that "If you like any one of books, I'll send you one" only makes sense if there are multiple copies of the one book. If the person likes one book, he'll be sent a copy of that one book, not a random book. On the other hand, if they are all different, and the person likes one of them, then he will expect "it" to be sent.
 

jasonlulu_2000

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Thank you, Raymott!

There is no "it" after "buy" in the original question sentence. Could we assume that both verbs-"buy" and "send" are followed by the same object?

Could we say "I will protect and love you"? Or should I say" I will protect you and love you" instead ?
 

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MikeNewYork

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Can I assume that:

when "one" is used, the speaker will just send any one book to the receiver.

When "it" is used, the speaker will only send the book which the book receiver is interested in.

I don't think "one" means that the speaker will send any one book. The reason I think "one" works in the original sentence is that most book stores have more than one copy of a book to sell. If display space is limited, the store might have only one copy of each book on display. Then If a customer selects a book, a copy is retrieved from wherever they keep the inventory. So when the speaker says "I will buy and send one to you" I take that to mean one copy of the book you expressed interest in.
 

cubezero3

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That depends on a more extensive analysis of the sentence. We don't know if it's correct yet, until jason confirms whether there is a pronoun after "buy" - since this could make a difference.
But the concept that "If you like any one of books, I'll send you one" only makes sense if there are multiple copies of the one book. If the person likes one book, he'll be sent a copy of that one book, not a random book. On the other hand, if they are all different, and the person likes one of them, then he will expect "it" to be sent.

Raymott, the thread starter has confirmed that there isn't a pronoun after "buy". Could you further explain on your thoughts here?

After going through the post several times, I am still not certain what difference it would make if it is replaced by one here.

My OAED says one is used as the objective of a v or prep to avoid a and the repetition of a n. It also gives the following example: I haven't got any stamps. Could you give me one?

It seems the usage quoted from OAED is no different from the sentence given by the thread starter when one is used.
 

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Neither "buy and send it" or "buy and send one" is natural to me.

"Buy one and send it" is best for me. "Buy it and send it" works also, though a bit repetitive.
 

Raymott

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Raymott, the thread starter has confirmed that there isn't a pronoun after "buy". Could you further explain on your thoughts here?
If the original sentence had read, "buy one and send __", that would reinforce the conclusion that "it" was the correct answer. As it stands, "buy and send" doesn't sound natural, as Dave says. And since not everyone agreed on the answer, that's why I asked for the clarification.


After going through the post several times, I am still not certain what difference it would make if it is replaced by one here.

My OAED says one is used as the objective of a v or prep to avoid a and the repetition of a n. It also gives the following example: I haven't got any stamps. Could you give me one?
It seems the usage quoted from OAED is no different from the sentence given by the thread starter when one is used.
Your quote gives a different context. In the case of the stamps, we can assume that they're all the same, or that any one would do. This is critical to the original question. If all the books were the same, it wouldn't make sense.
 
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