A total of or the total of?
Hi! I would love to know about how to use "total of".

I know "a total of" is normally used. But after mentioning it once, can it be used as "the total of"? For example,

[A total of 3 students was in the class. The total of 3 students enjoyed the class.]

Should it be "a total of" at the end too or "the total of"? (I know the example would sound a bit weird ,but I made it to check out the use of "a" and "the" here).

Please let me know about it. Thank you so much!

Question

A total of or the total of?
Hi! I would love to know about how to use "total of".

I know "a total of" is normally used. But after mentioning it once, can it be used as "the total of"? For example,

[A total of 3 students was in the class. The total of 3 students enjoyed the class.]

Should it be "a total of" at the end too or "the total of"? (I know the example would sound a bit weird ,but I made it to check out the use of "a" and "the" here).

Please let me know about it. Thank you so much!

Answer

I would do something like the following:

A total of 3 students were in the class. The total of students who enjoyed the class was 3.

Answer

It should be:

A total of 3 students was in the class.

However, it might be simpler and easier to say

3 students were in the class.

The "a total of" is a little redundant.

A better usage of that phrase would be in conversation regarding sums, like

"I count two people in that room and three in the other room, for a total of five."

Answer

For this sentence

The total of 3 students enjoyed the class

I would say

All 3 students enjoyed the class.

Or if there are more than 3 in the class,

Three of the students enjoyed the class.

Of course, don't start a sentence with a number and always spell it out.

Answer

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