Did he have as many friends as enemies?

English as a Second Language English Vocabulary, Grammar and Idioms
1

Hi teachers,
The Context:
‘Yes, but you escaped from prison,’ Olivia said quickly. ‘You have a lot of friends. Perhaps Pauli can help you. Or …’
‘Perhaps. I’ve got some good friends. I know that. But I’ve got a lot of enemies too,’ Alex said slowly. ‘Very dangerous enemies.’

Question (I’m not really sure about the answer)
Did Alex have as many friends as enemies? Explain your answer.
Yes he did. Olivia said he had a lot of friends, and he said he had got a lot of enemies.

Thanks in advance.

2

That’s not a good question. There is no real indication regarding whether he had more friends or enemies, only that he had both friends and enemies.

3

Hi Beeesneees,
Thanks a lot for you reply.
Then what about, ‘Did he have friends as well as enemies in his country?’
Yes, he did.
It’s understood from the story that we are talking about his country.
But then, would the part about how to explain the answer be, ‘He had both of them’.

RtL

4

As I’ve indicated previously, the ‘explain your answer’ part could vary greatly from person to person. You cannot prescribe a set phrase to the exclusion of all other possibilities.
A full explanation would be
Yes he did, Olivia mentioned that he had a lot of friends and Alex agreed that he had friends, but also enemies.
However, any answer which indicates that the text says Alex had friends should be accepted.

5

Hi Beeesneees,
Yes, you are right! You’ve told me about that before. Thanks for reminding me.

RtL

6

Beeesneees,

  1. However, any answer which indicates that the text says Alex had friends should be accepted.
  2. However, any answer that the text says Alex had friends should be accepted.
  3. However, any answer that says Alex had friends should be accepted.
  4. However, any answer should be accepted.
    Are all sentences correct grammatically?
7

1 is my sentence.
2 is incorrect.
3. ‘has’ would be better than ‘had’ there. This does not mean the same as 1.
4. correct, but obviously does not apply in this case. It indicates that there is no possible wrong answer.

8

Beeesneees,
How to make #2 correct?
Please help.
Thanks.

9

Write it as it is in #1!

10

Beeesneees,
Just for learning, I am trying to reduce your sentence grammatically.
So please guide me to make the sentence at #2 grammatical.
Thanks.

11

You cannot reduce it so that it makes the same sense as the original.

12

Beeesneees,
I am learning only.
I want to make sentences grammatically.
When I am reducing the big sentence, it may not have the full meaning of the original.
But what I want, I should learn to simplify the complex sentence. That is all.
Since You are my Guru(=teacher), I take the liberty to ask you to help.
Could you not extend your helping hand?
Thanks.

13

You are not simplifying a complex sentence if you change the meaning. You are simply making a new simpler sentence.
You have two choices to make 2 correct. Either change it so that it is the same as #1 or change it so that it is the same as #3.
Personally, I don’t see the value. It certainly won’t help you to learn English.