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I was wondering what combination sounds more idiomatic here in my example?

  • Children .................. So, forward-looking parents would better make sure whether they can fulfill their needs and meet their demands or not. Then they can make a decision about having a child.

a. are full of needs
b. have a lot of needs
c. are full of demands
d. have a lot of demands

I see nothing the matter with all those cases, but they are all direct translations from my mother tongue. I have no clue if they are natural and idiomatic in English as well.

I was wondering if there is any more natural way to imply the same message in this case.

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    They are all grammatically correct and sound natural to me.
    – randomhead
    Aug 29, 2021 at 22:23
  • For which dialect are you speaking @randomhead?
    – A-friend
    Aug 29, 2021 at 22:36
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    Native AmE speaker.
    – randomhead
    Aug 29, 2021 at 22:37
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    "Children are needy" and "Children are demanding..." are natural and more idiomatic ways of expressing the same thing.
    – gotube ♦
    Aug 30, 2021 at 3:02
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    @A-friend If you put a period or semicolon between "demands" and "a", then yes, the grammar is good and it sounds natural enough. I'd need a full context to say if the style is right.
    – gotube ♦
    Sep 2, 2021 at 2:33

1 Answer 1

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Grammatically they're all fine, but needs and demands aren't exactly the same thing. Needs = food, water, baby powder, and so on. Demands = those things + the latest iPhone, a bigger room, and so on. Which are you referring to?

"a lot of" sounds neutral. "full of" sounds a tiny bit more informal.

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3
  • Actually I mean both.
    – A-friend
    Sep 10, 2021 at 6:14
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    If you mean both, I'd lean towards "demands".
    – Sabrina
    Sep 10, 2021 at 13:39
  • Then how about both "needs and demands" @Sabrina?
    – A-friend
    Sep 10, 2021 at 16:43

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