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Cunning Linguists Languages and their use. What languages do you speak and why? What do words really mean? Can you say things in one language that you can't say in another? Should there be a national language? How many languages should a person know and what are they?

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 #1 
Old 2008-11-01, 02:09
Drox Drox is offline
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Default I've never understood this

Consider the sentence, "I have 4 brothers and sisters."

Does that mean the person has 4 brothers and 4 sisters or does it mean the total number of siblings totals 4
 #2 
Old 2008-11-01, 21:07
Stainless Stainless is offline
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Default Re: I've never understood this

I would take that to mean 4 siblings. 4 of each type I would say (and expect to hear) "I have 4 brothers and 4 sisters"
 #3 
Old 2008-11-01, 21:36
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http://tinyurl.com/28ozhm
Default Re: I've never understood this

It is four all together.

If you put a quantifying adjective in front of brothers (4), you would have to put one in front of sisters to make it sound correct.

You wouldn't say, "I have motorcycles and cars." You would say, "I have a few motorcycles and cars." or "I have some motorcycles and cars."

In spoken English, if you are going to tell us that you have multiple objects, you might as well tell us how many.
 #4 
Old 2008-11-01, 21:54
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Default Re: I've never understood this

It means four siblings altogether. You would say "I have four brothers and four sisters" if that's what you meant.
 
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