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[hereinbeijing]

Hello,
In sentence number one below, I'm not sure if I should use "and" or "or". In sentence number two, I'm not sure if I should use "took" or "take" and "is starting / started".
1. The word that I hold closest to my heart is "compassion" and this is the only word that is more important to me than "family" "and / or" "education".
2. Back when I was a high school student I taught illiterate people how to read. At first I had no idea how long it actually "took / takes" to teach someone how to read, especially when that person "is starting / started" from scratch.

[markholmes]

1. The word that I hold closest to my heart is compassion and this is the only word that is more important to me than either family or education.

I think it can't be family and education because you are refering to only one specific word that is interchangeable with compassion, and family and education is two.

2. Back when I was a high school student I taught illiterate people how to read. At first I had no idea how long it actually takes to teach someone how to read, especially when that person started from scratch.

2. Back when I was a high school student I taught illiterate people how to read. At first I had no idea how long it actually takes to teach someone how to read, especially when a person is starting from scratch.

I think took or takes is fine. I think takes implies you are still involved in the process of teaching people how to read. Took implies that you no longer teach people how to read.

'Is starting' in this case infers no time limit, a non-specific start time, so it sits better with 'a', which is also non-specific, so we are talking about people learning to read in general.

'Started' is time specific and sits better with that person which is also specific.

I'm making this up after drinking a bottle of red wine, but it makes sense to me =)

[fluffyhamster]

I'd also go for 'or' in 1, but I doubt if 'and' would jar much if at all when listening rather than reading to the sentence. Mark's use of 'either...or' (versus 'both...and') is logical and potentially useful, but IMHO interrupts the flow and rhythm ever so slightly.

Regarding 2's 'took' or 'takes'? Hmm, maybe 'would take' would blur this one nicely? But regardless of which exact form is used for TAKE, it seems to me that the START bit really needs to be progressive (and then, the present or past form of BE will follow on from and mirror what you used for TAKE - but past would seem slightly better in this context); that is, imagine you are starting an activity from scratch - do you inform your teacher that a) 'I start from scratch' b) 'I started from scratch' or c) I'm starting from scratch'. (Answer: c), but other forms like 'I'll start from scratch' and perhaps 'I'm going to start from scratch (right now!)' would probably also serve in this dialogue I'm having with myself! ).

I'm not sure though (Mark! ) about positing a link between the form of START and whether that 'that' should rather be an 'a' - I mean, "non-specific" though 'someone' is, it seems to establish a strong enough context to refer back to with 'that' (person), no? (That is, using 'a' seems to reset the "context-finder", our "reference-finding equipment" somewhat, get it pulsing slightly and perhaps a bit needlessly). Or to put it another (somewhat silly!) way, '...to teach a person how to read, especially when a person is starting from scratch' sounds a bit repetitive; then, there is the option of using 'they' in place of PERSON (might upset the more prescriptive or "stylistically-minded", though, especially if 'someone' isn't then changed to e.g. 'people'!).

[hereinbeijing]

thanks for taking the time to answer my question.