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wwg139580
Joined: 02 Mar 2006
Posts: 44
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 Posted: Tue Apr 22, 2008 6:12 am Post subject: the whole family or a whole family |
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Hello,
"Christmas is a special holiday when the whole family are supposed to get together". In the sentence, can I replace "the whole family" with " a whole family"? And can you tell me why?
Thank you very much. |
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Bob S.
Joined: 29 Apr 2004
Posts: 1767
Location: So. Cal
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| Posted: Fri Apr 25, 2008 9:18 am Post subject: Re: the whole family or a whole family |
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| wwg139580 wrote: |
Hello,
"Christmas is a special holiday when the whole family are supposed to get together". In the sentence, can I replace "the whole family" with " a whole family"? And can you tell me why?
Thank you very much. |
Grammatically you can replace the with is, but it changes the meaning slightly and sounds odd in this context.
I'm guessing the text was from a British publication because it says family are, (in the U.S. we say family is). |
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