plural singular confusion
plural singular confusion
(OP)
Ok let say there are 4 rooms A,B,C & D. Each room has 1 bed. Which of these sentences is correct?
1 The beds in room A, B, & C are king size.
2 The bed in room A, B, & C are king size.
3 The bed in room A, B, & C is king size.
I feel that the 1st one is correct but can also mean each room might have more than 1 bed. Help me out here. English isnt my 1st language.
1 The beds in room A, B, & C are king size.
2 The bed in room A, B, & C are king size.
3 The bed in room A, B, & C is king size.
I feel that the 1st one is correct but can also mean each room might have more than 1 bed. Help me out here. English isnt my 1st language.





RE: plural singular confusion
"The beds in rooms A, B & C are king size"
(note also that by convention there is no comma before "&")
To avoid the "how many beds per room" ambiguity, it's probably clearest to go to two sentences.
"Rooms A, B and C each have one bed. These beds are all king-sized".
A.
RE: plural singular confusion
RE: plural singular confusion
None of the above.
"The beds in rooms A, B & C are king size" is correct.
And for me ... they better be king size!
Chris
SolidWorks 06 5.1/PDMWorks 06
AutoCAD 06
ctopher's home (updated 10-27-06)
RE: plural singular confusion
You are writing about more than one bed, you use the plural "beds".
You are writing about more than one room, you use the plural "rooms".
This doesn't change if you happen to be writing about beds and rooms in the same sentence.
Have/has is nothing more than the conjugation of the verb "to have".
I have, he/she has, they have, it has, and so on.
RE: plural singular confusion
RE: plural singular confusion
At least two. Probably at least 4.
Cheers
Greg Locock
Please see FAQ731-376 for tips on how to make the best use of Eng-Tips.
RE: plural singular confusion
There is no way to know from the information provided. The sentence is ambiguous with respect to total quantity.
It may be reasonably assumed that there is at least one twin-size bed in each room, but this is not guaranteed.
The sentence does not rule out that there may be more than one twin-size bed in any one room, or all rooms.
It could be argued that the sentence implies that there must be a non-zero quantity of twin-size beds in each room.
It is certain that there are no beds of other than twin-size in any room.
By the way, in this context "twin" defines a specific size of bed. It has nothing to do with quantity. In the US, the standard sizes of beds are (from smallest to largest): "twin", "double", "queen", "king", "California king".
Also by the way, your written English is excellent.
RE: plural singular confusion
One of the beds is broken. In general you are discussing a group of beds but your sentence is relating information about only one. How many beds are broken? Just one, so it is singular.
The beds in rooms A, B and C are broken. How many beds are broken? We don't know from that sentence but it must be more than one because beds is plural, therefore you use are. In your example, you wouldn't say "The bed in room A, B & C..." because one bed can't occupy more than one room; it doesn't make sense. Also, since you mean to talk about more than one room (by saying A, B and C, instead of or) "rooms" would also be plural.
RE: plural singular confusion
Chris
SolidWorks 06 5.1/PDMWorks 06
AutoCAD 06
ctopher's home (updated 10-27-06)
RE: plural singular confusion
RE: plural singular confusion
RE: plural singular confusion
For me
"The beds in rooms A, B & C are king size" is correct.
And… have a good sleep or enjoy the bed.
Cheers
Luis
RE: plural singular confusion
"The solitary bed in rooms A, B & C, is king-size."
Frank "Grimey" Grimes
You can only trust statistics 90% of the time.
RE: plural singular confusion
I hope they are not broken
Luis
RE: plural singular confusion
To me, this would suggest just one bed being shared between the three rooms. It conjures up a number of alternative images - all involving John Cleese.
"Solitary" is an interesting choice too; it makes me picture a room which not only has no other beds, but is also bare of all other sorts of furnishing.
A.
RE: plural singular confusion
RE: plural singular confusion
RE: plural singular confusion
His version still begs questions like "yes, but do any of them have any other sorts of bed as well as the Kingsize?"
A.
RE: plural singular confusion
RE: plural singular confusion
"Rooms A, B and C each have one bed only, each of which is king-sized."
Cheers
Greg Locock
Please see FAQ731-376 for tips on how to make the best use of Eng-Tips.
RE: plural singular confusion
No chance of a family room then?
A.
RE: plural singular confusion
h
RE: plural singular confusion
If you remember that a comma represents a spoken pause you'll probably find you use it correctly.
Cheers
Greg Locock
Please see FAQ731-376 for tips on how to make the best use of Eng-Tips.
RE: plural singular confusion
Years ago I was travelling through France with a friend of mine and we met met a couple of nice French girls with whom we spent an enjoyable afternoon and evening.
Sophie and Armelle were kind enough to accompany us to the hotel so they could help us check in. I thought I'd impress the ladies with my command of their native language, which after a few bottles of wine was, I felt, quite formidable.
So in my best high school French I asked the hotel clerk for one room with two beds: one for me, one for my friend. (Despite out best efforts, alas, the girls were going home.) The clerk looked puzzled; les filles blushed and then started laughing.
What I had actually requested was ONE big bed for all four us.
RE: plural singular confusion
that was a truly good counting for the beds
a star for you!
RE: plural singular confusion
RE: plural singular confusion
One bed can't be in 4 rooms. I still think you need the comma after C.
RE: plural singular confusion
Kevin Hammond
Mechanical Design Engineer
Derbyshire, UK
RE: plural singular confusion