Sergii
Hi everyone! I have one more question about a Christmas tree. Is it good English to say: "Christmas trees don't live a long and happy life."? Or is it better to say "Christmas trees don't live long and happy lives."? Thank you!
Nov 13, 2021 10:04 PM
Answers · 4
The first sentence, the noun is plural. Christmas trees. The plural trees don’t singularly live one life. So the first sentence doesn’t make total sense Christmas trees live a happy life. We’re going from plural to singular. So the second sentence makes more sense. Christmas trees don’t live good lives… the plural nouns have a plural object: lives…. Sounds more correct.
November 14, 2021
"Christmas trees don't live long." That is all I'd say.
November 14, 2021
Both sentences sound OK to me, but I agree with Charlie that the second one is technically more correct.
November 13, 2021
I think you could say either, Sergii... The second one does seems more logical/ more 'correct' (plural trees/ plural lives), but I'm pretty sure you could hear the first version equally often. It's probably a bit like, "The government is..." vs. "The government are..."
November 13, 2021
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