WHICH OF THESE PHRASES ARE GRAMMATICALLY CORRECT?

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'Weren't any girls in the football team'
'There wasn't any girl in the football team'
'There wasn't a girl in the team'

I further want to know out of phrases 2 and 3, which would be more appropriate given the singular tense of 'girl' ?

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Type: Question • Score: 8 • Views: 1,050 • Replies: 13

[+4] - Roberta - 03/12/2014People generally aren't referred to as being in a team; they're [b]on[/b] a team.

@Ajatashatru,

Quote:

'Weren't any girls in the football team'

Okay collo

My Better Half, much smarter than I, offers this instead: "It's an all-guy (male, macho) football team"

Quote:

'There wasn't any girl in the football team'

No way Shat, unless what you mean is that the team as a whole exhibited no girlish tendencies

…as in "There wasn't any God in the surging crowd of terrorists"

Quote:

'There wasn't a girl in the team'

Leaves us wondering whether you're denying a recent assertion that there might have been. Thus the italic

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@Ajatashatru,

Your best option is 'There weren't any girls in the football team'.

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@Pearlylustre,

Agree, Pearly. The second two are grammatically correct, but sound kind of stilted.

1 Reply

@roger,

…while 'There wasn't a girl in the team' Implies an expectation that there should have been. Thus, "We had planned a lineup at last half female, but given the scarcity of lady football players, at last count there wasn't a girl in the team"

1 Reply

@dalehileman,

Yes, but, the title asks which are grammatically correct.

1 Reply

People generally aren't referred to as being in a team; they're on a team.

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@roger,

Quote:

Yes, but, the title asks which are grammatically correct.

Yea Rog, I do get carried away don't I

Alas Tasha, all three are grammatically correct depending upon context. Hope my compulsive rambling hasn't confused or misled

1 Reply

@dalehileman,

dalehileman wrote:

all three are grammatically correct depending upon context.

'Weren't any girls in the football team'

To be grammatically correct, shouldn't that sentence start with 'there''?

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Listen to what Roberta said.

Joe(Not 'in', 'on' )Nation

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@Pearlylustre,

Quote:

WHICH OF THESE PHRASES ARE GRAMMATICALLY CORRECT?

'Weren't any girls in the football team'
'There wasn't any girl in the football team'
'There wasn't a girl in the team'

I have to wonder if we are talking soccer or rugby 7's.

Given the specification that they are all phrases then in an astonishing reversal of recent fortune dalehileman's "they're all correct in context" is the correct response im<ho. lol

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@nacredambition,

I have no idea what you are talking about, and no idea why you posted here. Do you?

1 Reply

@roger,

The text in the post is fairly straightforward.

The phrases are all grammatically correct within the bounds of an appropriate surrounding sentence.

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@nacredambition,

x
Makes sense to me.

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WHICH OF THESE PHRASES ARE GRAMMATICALLY CORRECT?

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