Tuesday, May 19, 2015

Is there any difference between these two sentences?



Is there any difference between these sentences apart from structure?



The tiger is a ferocious animal.
Tigers are ferocious animals.


Answer



When you say "The tiger", it is a stand-in for "all tigers"; apart from having to make the subject and verb agree, the two sentences are the same.



You can use the same equivalence in other cases that don't look exactly the same:



"Man is mortal." / "All men are mortal." (Note that in this usage, "men" is gender-neutral.)



"Humankind is fallible." / "All humans are fallible."



"Art nurtures the soul." / "The arts nurture the soul."



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