
Student or Learner
Can I write "Plant cells have cell walls."on the exam paper?My teacher's anwser is"Plant cells have a cell wall."A plant cell has a cell wall,so I think many cells have many cell walls.But why there is an 'a' in the answer?
Plant cells (in general) have a cell wall (one cell wall).
Dogs (in general) have a tail, a head and 4 legs.
(More than one) plant cells have (more than one) cell walls.
Logic aside, both are accepted.
'Plant cells have walls' means either one plant has several walls or one plant has one wall or several plants have one wall they 'use jointly'. It is in the shared knowledge of the speaker and the hearer what is meant by this sentence, so I think both the singular and plural work. As long as the plural/singular usage does not go to the detriment of coherence, use either of them.
Last edited by svartnik; 12-Jan-2009 at 10:12. Reason: added more info
just a student.
I think that the cell wall is considered one structure only. its format is spherical, it has no sides and it doesn't have the format of a cube. it's a continuous structure, like he skin of an egg.
just a student.
Bookmarks