not two percent
Posted: Tue May 03, 2016 9:19 am
Can one say
a. Fifty percent of homeless men have suffered brain damage. Not fifty percent of the male population at large have suffered brain damage.
b. Fifty percent of homeless men have suffered brain damage. But not fifty percent of the male population at large have suffered brain damage.
c. Fifty percent of homeless men have suffered brain damage. Not fifty percent of men at large, but only X percent, have suffered brain damage.
d. Fifty percent of homeless men have suffered brain damage. But not fifty percent of men at large, but only X percent, have suffered brain damage.
?
The fifty percent figure seems more or less correct. I could not find the percentage of men who had brain damage in the general public and used X instead of a figure.
(a) and (b) sound incorrect to me.
I would say one could use the 'structure' in (a) and (b) when one wants to emphasis the fact that a figure is small.
e. 'Not two percent of the population know that Einstein published his article on special relativity in 1905.'
(e) seems fine to me since it emphasizes the fact that very few people 'know that'.
Am I correct?
Many thanks.
a. Fifty percent of homeless men have suffered brain damage. Not fifty percent of the male population at large have suffered brain damage.
b. Fifty percent of homeless men have suffered brain damage. But not fifty percent of the male population at large have suffered brain damage.
c. Fifty percent of homeless men have suffered brain damage. Not fifty percent of men at large, but only X percent, have suffered brain damage.
d. Fifty percent of homeless men have suffered brain damage. But not fifty percent of men at large, but only X percent, have suffered brain damage.
?
The fifty percent figure seems more or less correct. I could not find the percentage of men who had brain damage in the general public and used X instead of a figure.
(a) and (b) sound incorrect to me.
I would say one could use the 'structure' in (a) and (b) when one wants to emphasis the fact that a figure is small.
e. 'Not two percent of the population know that Einstein published his article on special relativity in 1905.'
(e) seems fine to me since it emphasizes the fact that very few people 'know that'.
Am I correct?
Many thanks.