Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums

[howtowhyis]

Most Japanese people have a cell phone.
Most Japanese people have cell phones.
Are both sentences correct and why?

They are a student.
They are students.
I think the first sentence is wrong and the second sentence is correct. Why?

[CP]

"Most Japanese people have cell phones" is better. "People" is plural, and they as a group have more than one cell phone.

"They are students" is correct because "they" is plural and so is "students."

Some people would say, "They are a student," referring to only one person, so as to avoid specifying whether it is a he or a she. But I think it is better to say, "He or she is a student" if you don't know the sex, and use either he or she, and not they, if you do know the sex.

Yours truly, CP