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Grammar
Q & A Newsgroup
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Member Posts: 689
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Posted
Can one say:
1-Jeff said that Niles might have left with some of my books. If one is missing, I'll have to teach Niles a good lesson. or: 2-Jeff said that Niles might have left with some of my books. If one of them is missing, I'll have to teach Niles a good lesson. instead of: 3-Jeff said that Niles might have left with some of my books. If a particular one is missing, I'll have to teach Niles a good lesson. Here the speaker is worried about one specific book and doesn't care about the others. I am not sure that 1 or 2 mean that. To me, 1 and 2 mean that if any book is missing, Niles will have to be taught a good lesson. |
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Member Posts: 15170
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Posted
All are correct, Navi. You are right about the first two possibly referring to any book at all in the group of books that Niles took.
The third sentence is more specific, though, and leaves no doubt about which book the speaker is referring to. The third sentence seems a bit heavy and unnatural. Perhaps you could say: ...If (Name of Book) is missing... |
