Vind Engels Leerkrachten
freewords
in the following sentence, use sex or sexes?
Parents have no way to choose their children’s sexes/sex.
(children may have two sexes or one sex)
6 mrt. 2012 14:27
Antwoorden · 5
2
Neither. Use the word "gender" here. Or better still:
Parents have no way of choosing whether their child will be a boy or a girl.
The original sentence was just too clumsy.
6 maart 2012
1
Wow...difficult question. We all know we could say, "Parents have no way to choose their CHILD's sex." However, this is confusing because we can 'choose' one thing, or we can 'choose' many things. We could say, "I chose the dresses for my children's high school banquet." Or, "I chose my children's dresses." We can also use the single form of a word and say, "I chose my children's room in the new house." This is supposing that they share a room together.
Notice, we cannot say "I chose my children's room" if the children don't share the same room. Similarly, we can't say "Parents have no way to choose their children's sex" unless we are sure that the children that we are talking about share the same sex (all are male, or all are female).
Since this is a general statement about all children, we should say, "Parents have no way to choose their children's sexes."
Also, this sentence is correct, but I think a more natural way of saying it would be "Parents have no way of choosing their children's sexes."
6 maart 2012
First of all, use CHILD.
6 maart 2012
Parents have no way to chose their children's sex.
this one explains the meaning better because the quantity is not important in this sentences
6 maart 2012
Parents have no way to chose their children's sex.
Sex can be male or female.
6 maart 2012
Heb je je antwoorden nog steeds niet gevonden?
Schrijf je vragen op en laat de moedertaalsprekers je helpen!
freewords
Taalvaardigheden
Chinees (Mandarijn), Engels, Japans
Taal die wordt geleerd
Engels
Artikelen die je misschien ook leuk vindt

Speak More Fluently with This Simple Technique
2 likes · 0 Opmerkingen

How to Read and Understand a Business Contract in English
10 likes · 2 Opmerkingen

6 Ways italki Can Help You Succeed in Your School Language Classes
12 likes · 6 Opmerkingen
Meer artikelen