Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums

[navi]

1-All of my friends were in a different class.

Is it possible that they were not all together in a different class to mine, but were in many different classes?


2-Each of my friends was in a different class.

Is it possible that they were all in the same class which was not the same as mine?


3-Each of the marbles was in his right pocket.
4-All of the marbles were in different places.

Are sentences 3 and 4 correct?

[Sina]

hm...not quite sure, but sentence 3 sounds strange...I wouldn't express it that way...

[bud]

1. They were all in one class. Otherwise, you would say, "... in different classes." (Although in casual speech a speaker might use class while meaning classes. It's not correct, but it is common to take shortcuts with the language.)

2. I'm not sure about this one, but I think technically it means that no two friends were in the same class together, and none of them were in your class.

3. Yes, but you'd need an out of the ordinary context for it to seem natural, I think.

4. I'm not sure on this one, either, but probably it is not correct. All is singular, so I don't see how one thing can be in different places. Maybe a grammar guru will correct me on that.