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 #2 (permalink) Mon Jan 16, 2006 8:27 am The others and others |
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| I would liker to reply to Polska's request and point out that others imply the rest of pets are dogs.So Polska assumes that there are only cats and dogs,but we are not sure whether the pets are cats and dogs only, maybe there are horses and some others. |
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Sultano
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| #3 (permalink) Mon Jan 16, 2006 8:39 am Others and the others |
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I agree with Sultano, why don't we say others are dogs?
because we don't know if there are other pets .what are pets? cats , dogs, horses, birds, ...etc.. so may be there are birds also why not so we should say others not the others. thanx a lot. |
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Jimmy
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| #4 (permalink) Mon Jan 16, 2006 11:08 am When can we say others without THE? |
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| Quote: |
| There are eight pets in my house. Six are cats and the others are dogs. |
'The others' means the rest of the pets or the remaining pets, that is two, since there are eight pets in total. So now we do know there are no more animals kept in the house, apart from these. 'Others' is not specific and means 'some' of the others but not all. We could only have said 'others' if there had been more than eight, because 'others' is at least two.
In other words, there are not enough pets in the house to say: six are cats and others are dogs. But it could have been: six are cats and another is a dog. There would still be one left.
Let's hope I'm not confusing you more! |
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Conchita
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| #5 (permalink) Mon Jan 16, 2006 11:32 am (the) others |
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Hi Polska,
To come back to your original question as to when we can use others without the. Let's talk about plants in the garden: Some plants can survive frost and snow, others must be protected. In that sentence I am talking about plants in general and others in that context simply means other plants - we don't know the names and we don't know how many.
Take a look at these two sentences: I bought 10 plants today. 6 were very cheap and the others (the other plants) were very expensive. In the second of those two sentences I use the because I am referring back to the word plants- I am if you like defining which others I am talking about. And that's after all why the is called the definite article.. If I had used the word others in the second sentence it would not have referred to anything and we wouldn't know to what the word others referred.
Just some thoughts
Alan
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Alan
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| #6 (permalink) Sat Dec 05, 2009 11:46 am When can we say others without THE? |
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| Thank you Mr. Alan. I reallty like this site. About this question, it's made me thinking several time and thanks for your explanation. |
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 Watie
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| #7 (permalink) Tue Dec 28, 2010 5:36 am Re: (the) others |
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Hi Mr. Alan
'I bought 10 plants today. 6 were very cheap and another was very expensive.'
What's difference between my sentence and your origin sentence? I am still confusing another and other
Take a look at these two sentences: I bought 10 plants today. 6 were very cheap and the others (the other plants) were very expensive. ........
Just some thoughts
Alan[/quote] |
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Baotet
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| #8 (permalink) Tue Dec 28, 2010 10:39 am When can we say others without THE? |
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another = one other, Baotet,
If 6 plants were cheap and another (one other) was expensive, you still have 3 plants unaccounted for. :)
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Beeesneees
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| #9 (permalink) Tue Dec 28, 2010 14:51 pm When can we say others without THE? |
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Sorry to have stumbled in here, but I found these sentences reasonable enough:
I bought 10 plants today. 6 were very cheap and another was very expensive.
The 3 others presumably had average prices and were therefore not considered worthy of mention.
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Mister Micawber
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| #10 (permalink) Fri Apr 22, 2011 13:28 pm When can we say others without THE? |
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Regarding "others" and "the others" in "There are eight pets in my house. Six are cats and others are dogs." And in the Grammar Test, "others" is the correct answer.
I would like to focus whether "the others" is an incorrect answer. Several members have explained the use of "the", and I agree. But does that mean "the others" is an incorrect answer for that given question? If the following question appeared in TOEFL or TOEIC, for example, both "others" and "the others" would have to be considered correct. Am I wrong? |
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DoesItMatter
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| #11 (permalink) Fri Apr 22, 2011 14:26 pm When can we say others without THE? |
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Regarding "others" and "the others" in "There are eight pets in my house. Six are cats and others are dogs." And in the Grammar Test, "others" is the correct answer.-- No; 'the others' is the correct answer.
I would like to focus whether "the others" is an incorrect answer. Several members have explained the use of "the", and I agree. But does that mean "the others" is an incorrect answer for that given question? If the following question appeared in TOEFL or TOEIC, for example, both "others" and "the others" would have to be considered correct. Am I wrong?- You are wrong. Only 'the others' is the correct answer here. We have a predetermined number of pets (8) and a specified number of cats (6), so there is only one specific 'others' (2), which are indicated as being dogs.
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Mister Micawber
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