Expressions
Hi, there

Could you help me with some questions?

1) Would you say "What is the farthest north/south/southeast/northeast country in the world" or "What is the northenmost/southernmost/northeasternmost/southeasternmost country in the world?"?

2) In a book, I found this: Was it really necessary that I be sitting there watching you the entire time you were rehearsing for the play? ... Couldn't I say "Was it really necessary that I sit (past) there watching you the entire time you were rehearsing for the play?".. Is this wrong?

3)What's the difference between ranking and "rankings"? Can't rankings be used to talk about one thing? Because I've read things like "The world university ranking" and "US News World Report released its annual college rankings Tuesday, and two schools from Massachusetts — Harvard and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology — again placed in the top 10 universities."... Why not "ranking"?

Thank you

Question

Expressions
Hi, there

Could you help me with some questions?

1) Would you say "What is the farthest north/south/southeast/northeast country in the world" or "What is the northenmost/southernmost/northeasternmost/southeasternmost country in the world?"?

2) In a book, I found this: Was it really necessary that I be sitting there watching you the entire time you were rehearsing for the play? ... Couldn't I say "Was it really necessary that I sit (past) there watching you the entire time you were rehearsing for the play?".. Is this wrong?

3)What's the difference between ranking and "rankings"? Can't rankings be used to talk about one thing? Because I've read things like "The world university ranking" and "US News > World Report released its annual college rankings Tuesday, and two schools from Massachusetts — Harvard and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology — again placed in the top 10 universities."... Why not "ranking"?

Thank you

Answer

1. Both are fine. *northernmost though

2. Yes, although the word "sit" is still in the present (which sounds fine to me anyway). I think a more natural way to say that sentence would be "Was it really necessary for me to sit there watching you the entire time you were rehearsing for the play?"

3. To me, "rankings" refers to a list, whereas "ranking" would refer to an individual place on the list, however it's a bit flexible, and "ranking" could probably be used to refer to the whole list, but it wouldn't sound as good. e.g. "US News > World Report released its annual college rankings Tuesday," but "Harvard's ranking was in the top 10".

Answer

Well I think I have  the answer for the 2nd one, in fact this is the subjunctive, which is not really used in informal contexts. but sit is correct

Answers · 2

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