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ESL forum >
Grammar and Linguistics > Grammar help!
Grammar help!
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ronit85
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Grammar help!
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Hello to you all and a nice week, Could you help me with the correct choice in this sentence What continent is _____________ .America or Africa? larger/ the largest Please give me an explanation too. Thanks in advance, Ronit |
13 Mar 2016
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sakhou
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Larger. You compare 2 elements. Sakhou |
13 Mar 2016
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cunliffe
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sakhou is right. You would certainly say, �America is bigger than Africa �... (It might be the other way round; Geography is not my strong point;-)) However, most of the population would say, in the question form: �Which continent is the largest, America or Africa? � In fact, I just asked my husband that very question, (he didn �t know, either!). So, I �m going to say that either form is OK. Here is someone asking the same question. What is in grammar books and guides, isn �t always what is said! If any grammarians like almaz are around, they may be able to come up with a more comprehensive answer for you. |
13 Mar 2016
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FrauSue
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It �s grammatically correct to use "larger" here because you are only comparing two things. However, if you didn �t have the two options at the end, you would ask, "Which continent is the largest?" because it �s implied that you are asking for the largest of all seven continents. |
13 Mar 2016
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yanogator
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I agree with Lynne, that people frequently use "the largest", even when comparing only two things. However, it would be a bad idea here, because it might sound like you are asking which, America or Africa, is the largest of all the continents. Also, America isn �t a continent. There are two Americas - North and South - and each is a continent. Bruce |
13 Mar 2016
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samiking1
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definitely it �s larger since we compare two elements .If it were more than two we would use the superlative largest |
13 Mar 2016
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ronit85
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A big thank you to all of you who took the time to answer and explain the correct answer I really appreciate! Ronit |
13 Mar 2016
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mariajosefuster
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After seeing Yanogatyor �s answer, I checked on the Internet: You see, there are many different continental models. In the United
States, the model that is used and taught in schools is the 7 continent
model, which divides North and South America into two different
continents. In many other parts of the world and most of Latin America,
the continental model is of only 6 continents and America is one single
continent. North, South and Central America are simply the names of the
regions within the contintents. It seems I have been taught that America is a continent but in some countries it is taught that it is 2 continents.  |
13 Mar 2016
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yanogator
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Thank you for that information, Maria. I had never heard it before. Bruce |
13 Mar 2016
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douglas
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Interesting information Maria, thank-you.
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14 Mar 2016
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