A grammatical queation
A sentence wrote" My one ambition was to save and to quit and go to Europe to study music."
Here "My one ambition..." is a formal usage or colloquial expression? Another example: His one friend is working in America.
Search from various English teachers...
Answers · 5
1
In this example, "my one ambition" means my main, overwhelming ambition. Whereas "my one friend" means you only have one friend in the world.
0
They are formal expressions. The phrasing is to highlight the singular importance of the ambition. As for the friend, it sounds as if that is the only friend he/she has. Don't expect to hear this phrasing in everyday conversation.
The colloquial (commonly-said) equivalents are actually the examples A Rahman gives: my ambition is... one of my ambitions is... his friend is... and so on.
0
It will be appropriate to write" My ambition is ..............." if you have only one ambition.
If you have ambitions, you can write " One of my ambitions is ...................... "
In the same way, if he has only one friend, better to write, " His friend is working in America "
If he has friends, then we can say, " One of his friends is working in America "
So, My one ambition is....................... and His one friend is .....................
both are colloquial expressions.
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