“sources of” vs. “the source of”
Consider a scenario where a bloodstain was discovered and analyzed. It was determined the blood came from a single source. Joe is not the source of the blood. Jack is not the source of the blood. Which of the following statements is correct and why? Joe and Jack are excluded as SOURCES of the blood. Joe and Jack are excluded as THE SOURCE of the blood.
This is an easy one -- since they are looking for the source it should be singular, no?
z99 Jun-14-2010
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I agree with Zeenins. It's singular.
Amanda1 Jun-15-2010
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Excellent post thanks!
Sent from my iPhone 4G
motofreak1985 Jun-19-2010
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Ok, imagine the blood they are looking for is called t-blood.
No t-blood has been found in Joe nor Jack. It is from the results of this analysis that Joe nor Jack are sources for the t-blood discrepancy amongst humans.
However, the focus of the search is on the one confirmed source, and so, Joe nor Jack are the source for this search.
I think I explained that bad, but both can be used, but they will slightly mean different things.
dbfreak Nov-17-2010
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