Which is correct? (Jack London's life and writings are thought by many to...)

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

Hi,
Please judge which of the following is correct:

  1. Jack London’s life and writings are thought by many to represent the American’s love of adventure

  2. Jack London’s life and writings are thought by many to represent American love of adventure

  3. Jack London’s life and writings are thought by many to represent American’s love of adventure

  4. Jack London’s life and writings are thought by many to represent the American love of adventure

(I personally think 1,3 and 4 are correct)
Many thanks

2

The clearly correct ones are 1, 2 and 4, but 1 is iffy.

Number 1 can be improved by changing American’s to Americans’.

Number 3 is quite wrong, but you could correct it also by changing American’s to Americans’.

The best one is 4, in my opinion.

3

.

Not if “the American’s love of adventure” referred to London himself.

4

Yes, you’re right. If it refers to London himself, it would be correct. If it refers to Americans in general, it would be wrong.

5

Hi Jamie,
Suddenly a question rises in my mind: the use of “could” present situations. I remember asking a question about this and the answer was that it can be used in question for politeness. (i.e: could you tell me this/that?)
So why do you use “could” here instead of “can”?

Many thanks
Nessie

6

Nessie, look up the “conditional mood” (or just the “conditional”) in a grammar book. That will explain things.

7

Thanks a lot, Jamie.
Actually I’ve learnt the conditional mood, but I’m just not used to sentences in conditional mood without “if”. Do you mean this in your sentence:

Number 3 is quite wrong, but if you changed “American’s” to “Americans’”, you could improve it.

Many thanks
Nessie