I wrote:
The students took spelling tests against the word list using the proposed tool on desktop computers.
Should I say "on some desktop computers". Because I feel the computers that are used are a limited number.
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2Not needed. Users won't assume you'd commandeered every desktop computer in the world, and "desktop" distinguishes the computers from "laptops' or "notebooks". It's a kind of computer you're talking about. You're referring to the computer by kind.– TimRCommented Feb 29, 2016 at 19:11
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I think you'd only need to change something if for whatever reason the number of computers is important. Like if you had 30 students and 3 computers and they had to take turns (and only if that fact is important to note. It could be true but not important). Otherwise, like TRomano said, you don't have to worry about people misinterpreting your original sentence.– SarahCommented Feb 29, 2016 at 19:26
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@TRomano Not sure why you made that a comment and not an answer.– JayCommented Feb 29, 2016 at 21:42
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1 Answer
Should I say "on some desktop computers". Because I feel the computers that are used are a limited number.
As @TRomano points out, you can say the students used "desktop computers" without it being assumed to be every computer in the world. This would be equally true even if you just said "on computers".
Consider that you can say "I went to the store and bought eggs"--and people would not assume you bought every egg in the world (or even in the store). You would have to say that explicitly.
You only need "some" if you are trying to be explicit in the other direction, that it is "definitely less than all":
The students took spelling tests on some of the library's computers.
Several machines couldn't be used because the software runs only on Windows.
Here the first sentence gets the reader prepared for the second, especially if you emphasize some. But leaving it out means the number isn't important to the point currently being made. Perhaps they used all of them, or perhaps they took turns using just two computers.
answered Mar 1, 2016 at 1:35
