Whether to use “enable” or “enables” after mentioning two different types of the same thing
Take this sentence: "The portable inkjet printer and wireless color photo printer included in XYZ enables ABC."
Should this be enable as you're referring to two different things, or is it enables because you are referring to two singular things?
Also, If I were to instead say" "The portable inkjet and wireless color photo printer", should printer be plural or singular there? I'm guessing if it stays singular then it would be enables and not enable.
grammar
asked 14 hours ago
kltk7kltk7
62
New contributor
kltk7 is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
add a comment |
Take this sentence: "The portable inkjet printer and wireless color photo printer included in XYZ enables ABC."
Should this be enable as you're referring to two different things, or is it enables because you are referring to two singular things?
Also, If I were to instead say" "The portable inkjet and wireless color photo printer", should printer be plural or singular there? I'm guessing if it stays singular then it would be enables and not enable.
grammar
asked 14 hours ago
kltk7kltk7
62
New contributor
kltk7 is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
Two or more things enable and one thing enables. You are describing two things.
– Jason Bassford
8 hours ago
add a comment |
Take this sentence: "The portable inkjet printer and wireless color photo printer included in XYZ enables ABC."
Should this be enable as you're referring to two different things, or is it enables because you are referring to two singular things?
Also, If I were to instead say" "The portable inkjet and wireless color photo printer", should printer be plural or singular there? I'm guessing if it stays singular then it would be enables and not enable.
grammar
asked 14 hours ago
kltk7kltk7
62
New contributor
kltk7 is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
Take this sentence: "The portable inkjet printer and wireless color photo printer included in XYZ enables ABC."
Should this be enable as you're referring to two different things, or is it enables because you are referring to two singular things?
Also, If I were to instead say" "The portable inkjet and wireless color photo printer", should printer be plural or singular there? I'm guessing if it stays singular then it would be enables and not enable.
grammar
grammar
asked 14 hours ago
kltk7kltk7
62
New contributor
kltk7 is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
asked 14 hours ago
kltk7kltk7
62
New contributor
kltk7 is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
edited 12 hours ago
kltk7
asked 14 hours ago
kltk7kltk7
62
New contributor
kltk7 is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
asked 14 hours ago
kltk7kltk7
62
asked 14 hours ago
kltk7kltk7
62
62
New contributor
kltk7 is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
New contributor
kltk7 is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
kltk7 is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
Two or more things enable and one thing enables. You are describing two things.
– Jason Bassford
8 hours ago
add a comment |
Two or more things enable and one thing enables. You are describing two things.
– Jason Bassford
8 hours ago
Two or more things enable and one thing enables. You are describing two things.
– Jason Bassford
8 hours ago
Two or more things enable and one thing enables. You are describing two things.
– Jason Bassford
8 hours ago
add a comment |
1 Answer
1
active
oldest
votes
Two things in a single unit are still correctly two things, and the two things "enable".
But it is more common in American speech for people to follow the singular word, so far away from printers, with "enable".
I would say that "printers ... each enable" both is right and sounds right.
For the alternative phrasing, from the user's point of view, not the mechanic's, is your unit essentially all one device, such as something that prints everything out the same port, or is it two devices in one stack or on one platform? That will tell you if it's singular or plural.
answered 8 hours ago
PvtBuddiePvtBuddie
1024
New contributor
PvtBuddie is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
add a comment |
Your Answer
StackExchange.ready(function() {
var channelOptions = {
tags: "".split(" "),
id: "97"
};
initTagRenderer("".split(" "), "".split(" "), channelOptions);
StackExchange.using("externalEditor", function() {
// Have to fire editor after snippets, if snippets enabled
if (StackExchange.settings.snippets.snippetsEnabled) {
StackExchange.using("snippets", function() {
createEditor();
});
}
else {
createEditor();
}
});
function createEditor() {
StackExchange.prepareEditor({
heartbeatType: 'answer',
autoActivateHeartbeat: false,
convertImagesToLinks: false,
noModals: true,
showLowRepImageUploadWarning: true,
reputationToPostImages: null,
bindNavPrevention: true,
postfix: "",
imageUploader: {
brandingHtml: "Powered by u003ca class="icon-imgur-white" href="https://imgur.com/"u003eu003c/au003e",
contentPolicyHtml: "User contributions licensed under u003ca href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/"u003ecc by-sa 3.0 with attribution requiredu003c/au003e u003ca href="https://stackoverflow.com/legal/content-policy"u003e(content policy)u003c/au003e",
allowUrls: true
},
noCode: true, onDemand: true,
discardSelector: ".discard-answer"
,immediatelyShowMarkdownHelp:true
});
}
});
kltk7 is a new contributor. Be nice, and check out our Code of Conduct.
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function () {
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
});
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
StackExchange.ready(
function () {
StackExchange.openid.initPostLogin('.new-post-login', 'https%3a%2f%2fenglish.stackexchange.com%2fquestions%2f489685%2fwhether-to-use-enable-or-enables-after-mentioning-two-different-types-of-the%23new-answer', 'question_page');
}
);
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
1 Answer
1
active
oldest
votes
1 Answer
1
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
Two things in a single unit are still correctly two things, and the two things "enable".
But it is more common in American speech for people to follow the singular word, so far away from printers, with "enable".
I would say that "printers ... each enable" both is right and sounds right.
For the alternative phrasing, from the user's point of view, not the mechanic's, is your unit essentially all one device, such as something that prints everything out the same port, or is it two devices in one stack or on one platform? That will tell you if it's singular or plural.
answered 8 hours ago
PvtBuddiePvtBuddie
1024
New contributor
PvtBuddie is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
add a comment |
Two things in a single unit are still correctly two things, and the two things "enable".
But it is more common in American speech for people to follow the singular word, so far away from printers, with "enable".
I would say that "printers ... each enable" both is right and sounds right.
For the alternative phrasing, from the user's point of view, not the mechanic's, is your unit essentially all one device, such as something that prints everything out the same port, or is it two devices in one stack or on one platform? That will tell you if it's singular or plural.
answered 8 hours ago
PvtBuddiePvtBuddie
1024
New contributor
PvtBuddie is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
add a comment |
Two things in a single unit are still correctly two things, and the two things "enable".
But it is more common in American speech for people to follow the singular word, so far away from printers, with "enable".
I would say that "printers ... each enable" both is right and sounds right.
For the alternative phrasing, from the user's point of view, not the mechanic's, is your unit essentially all one device, such as something that prints everything out the same port, or is it two devices in one stack or on one platform? That will tell you if it's singular or plural.
answered 8 hours ago
PvtBuddiePvtBuddie
1024
New contributor
PvtBuddie is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
Two things in a single unit are still correctly two things, and the two things "enable".
But it is more common in American speech for people to follow the singular word, so far away from printers, with "enable".
I would say that "printers ... each enable" both is right and sounds right.
For the alternative phrasing, from the user's point of view, not the mechanic's, is your unit essentially all one device, such as something that prints everything out the same port, or is it two devices in one stack or on one platform? That will tell you if it's singular or plural.
answered 8 hours ago
PvtBuddiePvtBuddie
1024
New contributor
PvtBuddie is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
edited 4 hours ago
answered 8 hours ago
PvtBuddiePvtBuddie
1024
New contributor
PvtBuddie is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
answered 8 hours ago
PvtBuddiePvtBuddie
1024
answered 8 hours ago
PvtBuddiePvtBuddie
1024
1024
New contributor
PvtBuddie is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
New contributor
PvtBuddie is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
PvtBuddie is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
add a comment |
add a comment |
kltk7 is a new contributor. Be nice, and check out our Code of Conduct.
kltk7 is a new contributor. Be nice, and check out our Code of Conduct.
kltk7 is a new contributor. Be nice, and check out our Code of Conduct.
kltk7 is a new contributor. Be nice, and check out our Code of Conduct.
Thanks for contributing an answer to English Language & Usage Stack Exchange!
- Please be sure to answer the question. Provide details and share your research!
But avoid …
- Asking for help, clarification, or responding to other answers.
- Making statements based on opinion; back them up with references or personal experience.
To learn more, see our tips on writing great answers.
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function () {
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
});
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
StackExchange.ready(
function () {
StackExchange.openid.initPostLogin('.new-post-login', 'https%3a%2f%2fenglish.stackexchange.com%2fquestions%2f489685%2fwhether-to-use-enable-or-enables-after-mentioning-two-different-types-of-the%23new-answer', 'question_page');
}
);
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function () {
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
});
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function () {
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
});
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function () {
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
});
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Two or more things enable and one thing enables. You are describing two things.
– Jason Bassford
8 hours ago