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Date: Thu, 19 Jan 2006 17:37:44 +1100
From: cguttman <4everclever4@web.de>
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Subject: Re: grammar rule: "these" refers to last mentioned type....
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Thanks.
Yes, you can highlight any type of activity by an additional word.
For example, you could say:
"All these activities", and mean a,b, and c activities.
"These last activities", and mean c activities (which is still ambiguous).
etc...
But I was wondering if there is an English Grammar rule that says that
"These activities" always refer to the activities last mentioned.
Chris
Jim Heckman wrote:
> On 18-Jan-2006, cguttman <4everclever4@web.de>
> wrote in message <43ceac2b$0$10564$afc38c87@news.optusnet.com.au>:
>
>
>>Hello folks,
>>
>>please read the following two sentences:
>>
>>There are several activities: a-type activities, b-type activities, and
>>c-type activities. *These* activities are most important in a rescue task.
>>
>>Apparently, there is an English grammar rule that suggests that 'These'
>>refers to the last mentioned type of activities, ie c-type activities.
>>This sounds odd to me, is this correct? And if it is correct, is there a
>>reference where this rule is stated?
>
>
> To this native English speaker, your sentences above suggest that
> a-type, b-type and c-type activities are all equally important in a
> rescue task. If I wanted to say that the c-type activities are most
> important, I would say "The last are..." or "These last are...".
>
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