I have been driven crazy by a grammatical problem.
A: "Plug this wire into ports of cars"
B: "Plug this wire into the port of the car"
C: "Plug this wire into the port of car"
D: "Plug this wire into ports of car"
E: "Plug this wire into port of car"
This was part of dialogue when an engineer was trying to explain how a certain kind of wire work. By "car" and"port", he didn't mean a specific car or wire, rather, he meant the general idea.
What I have learnt in grammar is we use plural form to refer to a general idea of a certain thing.
So which one is right?
Search from various English teachers...
Answers · 5
2
The correct form is B.
It's not always the case that you use the plural form for generalisations. For technical and practical matters, particularly for instructions and procedures, you use the singular form with the article 'the'.
Just look at any product manual in English and you'll see this form used.
0
What was the original sentence? You've given five options.
I agree that it B is correct. "The port" is specific: the port that the car has (I assume there is just one port). "The car" is also specific: it means the car you are working on... not just any car.
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