How much cheese do you want

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it-is-niaz

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Jan 31, 2018
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Student or Learner
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Persian
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Iran
Current Location
United States
Are the following sentences OK when we want to answer the question "How much cheese do you want"?

  1. Could I have three pieces of that Greek cheese?
  2. I want half of that piece of the cheese.
  3. Could you please cut that cheese in one third?
  4. I need just one quarter of the cheese
  5. I need two pounds of that cheese
  6. Could you please cut that piece of cheese into small pieces/ones. I want just one of small pieces of it.
 
1, 4, and 5 could all work in the right circumstances.

2 would be OK without 'the'.

3 and 6 require some work.
 
1, 4, and 5 could all work in the right circumstances.
Could you please tell me in which circumstances they are OK?

3 and 6 require some work.​

  1. Could you please cut that cheese in thirds?
  2. Could you please cut that piece of cheese into small pieces/ones. I just want one of those pieces.
 
Could you please tell me in which circumstances they are OK?

It would depend on the context. One such situation where they'd work is when ordering cheese from some kind of grocery store, cheese shop, delicatessen, etc.



  1. Could you please cut that cheese in thirds?
  2. Could you please cut that piece of cheese into small pieces[STRIKE]/ones[/STRIKE]? I just want one of those pieces. (okay, but 'one piece' is more natural).
These are okay with noted corrections.
 
The following would sound more natural to me:

Could you please cut that cheese in three? (I would ask for this if taking all three pieces)
Could you please give me a third of that cheese? (If I am only going to take one piece, it's not my business to tell them what to do with the rest)
 
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