Is it a mistake?

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Euginiya
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#1

Сообщение Euginiya »

The following sentence was given in the writing task for so called State Final Examination for 9th formers in Ukraine, quoting: "All you need to become a member of the club is to have a convenient sports clothes and footwear. The question refers to article "a" before convenient. I've always though that clothes was plural. Am I wrong? Or maybe this article refers to something else, not clothes? Confused.
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Michelangelo
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#2

Сообщение Michelangelo »

Euginiya пишет: 05 ноя 2018, 11:52 a convenient sports clothes and footwear
We shouldn't use "A" here.
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Euginiya
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#3

Сообщение Opt »

Euginiya пишет: 05 ноя 2018, 11:52convenient
Comfortable не лучше?
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Chaika
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#4

Сообщение Chaika »

That's not all that's wrong with the sentence. I would write it this way:

All you need to be a member of the club is comfortable ___ clothes and footwear.

"sports clothes" is too vague. If it's a hiking club, for example, then: comfortable hiking clothes. or ...comfortable clothes and footwear for hiking.


all you need ... is
subj. - verb
also possible:
all you need to do ... is to have
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Euginiya
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#5

Сообщение tourist »

Comfortable не лучше?
Of course it's better.I thought I was the only one who noticed.
Alternatively: appropriate or suitable
convenient is runglish
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Euginiya
Euginiya
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#6

Сообщение Euginiya »

Chaika пишет: 05 ноя 2018, 21:17 That's not all that's wrong with the sentence. I would write it this way:

All you need to be a member of the club is comfortable ___ clothes and footwear.

"sports clothes" is too vague. If it's a hiking club, for example, then: comfortable hiking clothes. or ...comfortable clothes and footwear for hiking.


all you need ... is
subj. - verb
also possible:
all you need to do ... is to have

I would go along with comfortable, yes it's better in this contex (haven't noticed). Concerning the first remark about sports clothes, I would leave it here, 'cause it's about a new school gym and refers to different kinds of sports clubs you can choose to join in your school. So, sports clothes is kind of generalization. Of course, if you talk about some specific sport it's better to be more exact. But in this situation, I don't see the problem.
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Michelangelo
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#7

Сообщение Michelangelo »

Euginiya пишет: 06 ноя 2018, 13:19 So, sports clothes is kind of generalization.
Even greater generalisation is to write "clothes like Chaika said. By the way, Chaika is a linguist from the USA, in case you don't know.
You can use "sports clothes" like he said - no problem. It is also a kind of generalisation.
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