Phrase "Many people say California is..."

[Nessie]

Hi,
Please have a look at this sentence:

Many people say that California is a state of geographic remarkable diversity.

=> This is mistake correcting exercise, and in my country, this kind of exercise usually have just one mistake in each sentence. But on considering it, do you think there is more than one mistake in it?

1. First of all, I think there must be something wrong with "a state of geographic remarkable diversity" and it should be changed into either "a state of remarkable geographic diversity" or "a state of remarkably geographic diversity". What do you think?

2. However, the answer in the book is "a state". I guess they want us to change it into "the state", but I wonder why "a" is not all right. I think we just "the" if California is the only state of geographic diversity, right?

Regards
Nessie
_________________
... something we never have again, I know... I guess I really really know..

Sorry seems to be the hardest word...

[MrPedantic]

Hello Nessie,

I would say your point #1 is correct: "remarkable geographic diversity". ("Remarkably" doesn't quite work, as "geographic" isn't gradable.)

Otherwise, it looks fine to me. I can't see a problem with "a state"; unless they want you to capitalise it.

Best wishes,

MrP

[Yankee]

Hi Nessie

I agree with you and MrP that it should read 'remarkable geographic diversity'. I also agree that 'a state' is fine. However, I'd also suggest that the wording would be better this way:
- '... a state with remarkable geographic diversity'.
.

[Molly]

[Barb_D]

I also agree with your #1 above.

If you change it to "the state" you are saying that California is the only state with such diversity, and that's not really true.
I would also disagree with changing it to "a State" - usually (although this is style and not grammar) "State" is capitalized when you refer to it as a legal entity, which is hardly applicable in describing it as a landform.

[Yankee]

Hi "Molly"

I suggested an alternative for Nessie's specific sentence. You seem to prefer a prescriptive "one right way for all sentences" approach. Unfortunately, your approach ignores the rest of the sentence along with possible variations in the meaning of other words in the phrase/sentence.

There is nothing wrong with saying "a state of". That is a frequently used collocation -- including in sentences such as "Milly's nonsensical responses indicate a state of perpetual confusion", or "Milly is bent on creating a state of perpetual confusion" for example.

There is nothing wrong with saying "a state with" in the context of Nessie's sentence -- as you yourself may have already managed to figure out.

However, I do not recommend using 'a state with' in sentences such as the two sample sentences I wrote above (i.e. the ones referring to Milly's perpetually confused state). As you may have noticed, that usage of 'state' is different from the way 'state' is used in Nessie's sentence.
.

[Molly]