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OG-252
Three out of every four automobile owners in the United States also own a bicycle.
(A) Three out of every four automobile owners in the United States also own a bicycle.
(B) Out of every four, three automobile owners in the United States also owns a bicycle.
(C) Bicycles are owned by three out of every four owners of automobiles in the United States.
(D) In the United States, three out of every four automobile owners owns bicycles.
(E) Out of every four owners of automobiles in the United States, bicycles are also owned by three.
A, the best choice, is concise, idiomatic, and maintains subject-verb agreement. In B, Out of every four, three is unidiomatic. The singular verb owns does not agree with its plural subject, three ... owners. The passive construction in C (Bicycles are owned by) is cumbersome and does not contribute meaningfully to the sentence. The shift to plural Bicycles detracts from clarity by suggesting that multiple bicycles are owned by each person in question. In D, the singular owns does not agree with its plural subject three... owners. Furthermore, the plural bicycles detracts from clarity by suggesting that multiple bicycles are owned by each person in question. In E, the phrase beginning Out of every four ... cannot properly modify bicycles, and the passive construction (bicycles are also owned) is awkward and does not contribute meaningfully to the sentence. The plural nouns bicycles and automobiles suggest imprecisely that each person owns more than one of each.
黄色部分提到用复数会存在是不是每人只拥有一辆车的问题。但是句子简化下就是：Three out of four owners own a bicycle. 这样会否产生3个人只有1辆车的歧义？ | 
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发表于 2005-11-6 01:12:00
