Posted by rfvv on Saturday, December 19, 2015 at 12:10am.
1. I didn't eat apples or pears.
2. I didn't eat apples and pears.
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#1 mean "I didn't eat apples. I didn't eat eat pears, either." Am I right? Then, what about #2? What does #2 mean in the following three sentences? Or would you paraphrase #2 in detatil?(Thank you for your help.)
3. I didn't eat both apples and pears.
4. I didn't eat apples. I didn't eat pears, either.
5. I ate apples, but I didn't eat pears.
Or I didn't eat apples, but I ate pears.
•English - Reed, Saturday, December 19, 2015 at 6:13am
All of these are correct except #3. The word "both" is redundant (unnecessary). "apples and pears" means both without the word "both".
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Thank you for your help. I corrected some errors...Would you clarify the meaning of Sentence 2?
2. I didn't eat apples and pears.
It means you did not eat apples and pears. Out of context it just means what it says. Perhaps you dislike apples and pears and did not eat them when offered or you ate bananas and oranges and declined to eat apples and pears.
Sentence 2, "I didn't eat apples and pears," means that the person did not eat both apples and pears together. It can be understood to say, "I didn't eat apples together with pears."
To understand the meaning, we can break down the sentence structure. "I didn't eat" is the main part of the sentence, indicating that the person did not consume something. "Apples and pears" is a compound object, meaning it refers to both apples and pears together. So, when combined, "I didn't eat apples and pears" means that the person did not consume apples and pears together as a combination.
It is different from sentence 1, "I didn't eat apples or pears," which means the person did not eat either apples or pears. Sentence 1 allows for the possibility that the person may have eaten one of the fruits but not the other. Sentence 2, on the other hand, specifically states that the person did not eat both fruits together.