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Rank: Advanced Member
Joined: 5/15/2014
Posts: 388
Neurons: 4,040
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a. The chances of event A happening are higher than the combined chances of the other events happening.
b. The chances of event A happening are higher than the combined chances of all the other events happening.
c. The chances of event A happening are higher than the chances of the other events happening combined.
d. The chances of event A happening are higher than the chances of all the other events happening combined.
Which of the above is grammatically correct and meaningful?
The assumption is that we are comparing probabilities of a number of events: A, B, C, D, E,...
The probability of A is higher than the probability of B + the probability of C + the probability of D ....
I don't like (d), and I don't like (c) that much either. In (d) I get the feeling that one is comparing the chances of A to the chances of all the other things happening together.
Many thanks.
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Rank: Advanced Member
Joined: 8/24/2011
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Location: London, England, United Kingdom
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azz wrote:a. The chances of event A happening are higher than the combined chances of the other events happening.
b. The chances of event A happening are higher than the combined chances of all the other events happening.
c. The chances of event A happening are higher than the chances of the other events happening combined.
d. The chances of event A happening are higher than the chances of all the other events happening combined. It is better to say "The chance of event A happening is higher...". Apart from that change: (a) is best. In (b), "all" is unnecessary, because " the other events" already implies all of them. (c) and (d) sound unnatural – "combined" is too far away from "chances", which it qualifies.
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Rank: Advanced Member
Joined: 8/13/2016
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Location: Calabasas, California, United States
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Audiendus wrote:azz wrote:a. The chances of event A happening are higher than the combined chances of the other events happening.
b. The chances of event A happening are higher than the combined chances of all the other events happening.
c. The chances of event A happening are higher than the chances of the other events happening combined.
d. The chances of event A happening are higher than the chances of all the other events happening combined. It is better to say "The chance of event A happening is higher...". Apart from that change: (a) is best. In (b), "all" is unnecessary, because " the other events" already implies all of them. (c) and (d) sound unnatural – "combined" is too far away from "chances", which it qualifies. AGREE! 
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