Mitsuo23 Posted 15 years ago
Grammar
Rivers can be "a river or two"
Hi,
Maybe I am thinking too much but I could't pretend I am totally comfortable with the sentence.
This is from a book (He was a lisp issue):
Plurals presented a considerable problem, but I worked around them as best I could; "rivers," for example, became either "a river or two" or "many a river."
"many a river" is acceptable, but I don't think "a river or two" can be the equivalent phrase to "rivers" because, I believe, plurals mean "more than one" and so can't include "a river."
Grammatically, I think I am correct, but don't know in terms of the practical meaning. "a river or two" can be used for "rivers"?
Thank you,
M
Maybe I am thinking too much but I could't pretend I am totally comfortable with the sentence.
This is from a book (He was a lisp issue):
Plurals presented a considerable problem, but I worked around them as best I could; "rivers," for example, became either "a river or two" or "many a river."
"many a river" is acceptable, but I don't think "a river or two" can be the equivalent phrase to "rivers" because, I believe, plurals mean "more than one" and so can't include "a river."
Grammatically, I think I am correct, but don't know in terms of the practical meaning. "a river or two" can be used for "rivers"?
Thank you,
M
Top answer
Part of his problem (and some of the humour of the book) is that he is trying to find impossible equivalents just to avoid lisping his /s/. e. not always perfectly.
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Part of his problem (and some of the humour of the book) is that he is trying to find impossible equivalents just to avoid lisping his /s/. As he said, he worked around them 'as best he could', i.e. not always perfectly. 'A river or two' suggests more than a single river, that is all.
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I see.
I seeeee.
Thank you, humorous lines are hard to understand, thouth that's why I'm working on this book.
M
I seeeee.
Thank you, humorous lines are hard to understand, thouth that's why I'm working on this book.
M
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