Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums

[river1974]

Dear teachers:

(a) The upper and lower covers each have a fixed size.
(b) The upper and lower covers each has a fixed size.

Which one is correct? Thanks.

[pugachevV]

Of your examples, a.) is correct.
You can say, "Each cover has a fixed size", if you want.

I have a question though. Surely it is obvious that the covers have a fixed size?

[river1974]

Thanks pugachevV. But I don't really understand your question. My example comes from a Chinese patent specification that I have to translate it into English.

[advoca]

Can the covers have a variable size? Is it necessary to specify that the size is fixed?

Does the applicant mean that the covers have a specific size? I think that most of us feel that everything has a fixed size (though my stomach has a distressing tendency to expand these days.)

[pugachevV]

River, it just seemed strange to me at the time, but I know nothing about patent applications.
There's nothing wrong with it grammatically.