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Haru
The difference between 'there was no bus' and 'there were no trains'
- We had to walk because there was no bus.
- There are no trains today. The drivers are on strike.
There are examples from a textbook. I'm wondering why 'bus' is singular in the first example but 'train' plural in the second. Can I say 'there were no buses' or 'There was no train' instead?
2015年12月30日 02:37
回答 · 5
4
Hello Haru,
The difference has to do with circumstance. In the first sentence, a certain bus did not show up. There is only one bus.
In the second sentence, there isn't a single train in operation because the drivers are on strike. All trains won't be running that day.
You could say "there are no buses" if there was a city holiday or a strike and all of the buses weren't running and similarly you could say "there was no train" if a particular train didn't show up.
The two are not interchangeable and depend entirely on the circumstances.
Hope that helps!
2015年12月30日
1
It depends on context. If you would only expect to have one, then it is singular. Which i think makes sense since not all the buses can get oneself where, specifically, one wants to go.
2015年12月30日
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Haru
語学スキル
英語, ドイツ語, 日本語, ラテン語
言語学習
英語, ラテン語
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