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I'm really confused with this since my students have asked me if this sentence is correct or not.

Is it correct to say:

Please sign BOTH first and second PAGE.

(Or is it PAGES?) Under what circumstances, if any, Page would be correct? (I've been told to use PAGES) Do I need any articles before First or second?

mplungjan
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user80322
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1 Answers1

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To be formal, there are two ways to rephrase the statement. You could say "Please sign both the first and second pages" or "Please sign both the first page and the second page".

WhatRoughBeast
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  • So "Page" cannot be used at all? Like "Please sign both the first and the second page?" – user80322 Jun 16 '14 at 17:43
  • @user80322 Page is singular, but you are referring to 2 things. You wouldn't say "Pass me both pencil". You would either address them together with "Pass me both pencils" or individually as "Pass me both that pencil, and that pencil.". – please delete me Jun 16 '14 at 18:18
  • Thing about English grammar is that I ve been learning English for 21 years and I have become so wishy-washy about grammar. A British friend of mine has said that he would use "Sign both the first and the second page'. Isn't it strange? – user80322 Jun 16 '14 at 19:12
  • You wouldn't say "pass me both pencil", but you *could* say "pass me the red and the green pencil". – Peter Shor Jun 16 '14 at 19:54
  • @Peter Shor So if one said 'pass me the red and green pencil' they'd mean ONE pencil. But what if you wanted to use BOTH? Pass me both the red and the green pencil? or pencils? – user80322 Jun 17 '14 at 17:27
  • If one says "pass me the* red and the green pencil", one means there are two pencils. You could also say "pass me the red and the green pencils".* If you said "pass me the red and green pencils", you might mean that there were multiple pencils that were both red and green, and you wanted all of them. However, "first and second page" doesn't suffer from this ambiguity. – Peter Shor Jun 18 '14 at 01:12