Teacher Discussion Forums

"Scientists were shocked that a human being could have either, let alone both, of these qualities."

I could not for the life of me find an easy way to explain "let alone" in this example in a simple way. Anyone have any suggestions?

How about 'Having (the) one is surprising; having two (both) is absolutely mind-blowing/boggling!!!' (speaking "as" a scientist)?

Anyway, what qualities are we talking about here exactly? Having not only X-File green alien "blood" in an actual human body (implying an alien-like intertissual resistance to acidity) but also a big pair of wings not unlike an angel's sprouting from the back?

I think I may have gotten the answer. Do you think "let alone" would be equivalent to "or even?"

I could explain the meaning of the sentance just not how you would use "let alone." And the sentance was about a man who could breath smoke in a burning building and whose skin was not burned buy fire. It was a lesson about tabloid stories.

either, let alone both = both, or even either.

JapanG wrote:And the sentance was about a man who could breath smoke in a burning building and whose skin was not burned buy fire. It was a lesson about tabloid stories.

Maybe he didn't breathe in enough smoke (=there wasn't enough smoke) to asphyxiate him(self)? And as for his skin, perhaps he wasn't anywhere near enough to the flames or had coated himself in some kind of gel or something, Mulder...ah, tabloid story eh? Righttt...I seee...

Not authentic, but. . .

I was so sick I couldn't get out of bed let alone walk to the bank.
David doesn't know arithmetic let alone algebra.
Melinda can barely afford pinto beans let alone beef.
Randy can't cook a grilled cheese sandwich let alone Thanksgiving dinner.
Prof. Smith wouldn't accept your paper in the middle of class, let alone 3 days late.

Good examples Tara B

In that sentence, 'let alone' means 'forget about it'

Scientist would be amazed if someone had even one of those qualities. As for having both? ... forget about it! That would just be ridiculous!

Good examples there. THanks for the help.

Isn't the point of Tara's examples that the second thing mentioned in each sentence is bigger/more difficult/expensive etc than the first? Walking to the bank requires more effort than getting out of bed, beef is more expensive than pinto beans, a Thanksgiving dinner is more complicated to prepare than a grilled chesse sandwich and so on.