How people hear it
Usually if you say it without a pause before the and (or a comma in writing), like this:
It is best to not play video games and read a book before you sleep.
then it would mean "don't do both of these activities together (or don't play video games and then immediately read a book) before you go to sleep."
Usually if you say it with a pause before the and (or with a comma in writing):
It is best to not play video games, and read a book before you sleep.
then it means two separate propositions: (1) It is best not to play video games, ever. (2) Read a book before you fall asleep.
There is no official rule, of course. And in this case, people will probably hear the second version even if you omit the pause (or comma). The reason is, playing video games and reading a book don't combine into an activity you could do before going to sleep.
As it stands, the sentence seems strange because combining those two activities without a pause doesn't really make sense, and recommending against playing video games ever seems strange, too. Why would someone recommend against playing video games ever, and tell me to read a book before going to sleep, all in the same breath? So, a fluent speaker will probably think that you misspoke, and that you meant to say:
It is best to read a book before you go to sleep, not [to] play video games.
Ways to say it clearly
You can use gerunds to make parallel constructions to help the listener connect the phrases correctly:
Reading a book is best before you go to sleep, not playing video games.
Still more ordinary is:
You should read a book before going to sleep, not play video games.
Notice the use of both gerund and infinitive to help the listener keep track of what is supposed to modify what. If you said "You should read a book before going to sleep, not playing video games", that would be heard as "You should read a book before you go to sleep, not before you play video games."
This next sentence is even more lucid:
You should read a book before you go to sleep, not play video games.
The word you helps the listener follows this without confusion, because it puts go into the second person. It's not an infinitive, so the listener doesn't group it with read and play.
If you really want to recommend against doing either activity before going to sleep, then you would say:
It is best not to play video games or read a book before you go to sleep.
People who know set theory or use databases like to say that English uses or to mean and here, but they're mistaken. The usual meaning of or in English is to indicate choices. In this context, it means "either choice you make, the sentence will be true."
As was pointed out on that other question you linked, this is a surprisingly tricky sentence!
Let's slowly build it up.
It will take someone else.
What is "it"? Stopping Voldemort again. Implied but never directly said. As for "take", we could say "need" instead, just to be slightly clearer.
[Stopping Voldemort again] will [need] someone else.
This isn't "someone else" as in "we need a different person", but as in "we need other people prepared to do what you did, Harry". When will they be needed? "Next time" (that is, the next time that Voldemort tries to return).
[Stopping Voldemort again] will [need] someone else who is prepared to [do the same as Harry] next time.
Now, Dumbledore is saying that this someone else doesn't have to do much. Hence, it will "merely" (or "only") take someone else. This may sound like it's demeaning Harry's efforts, but it's meant to be reassuring Harry: standing up to Voldemort is not very difficult or unlikely after all, and it doesn't take someone extra-special to do it.
[Stopping Voldemort again] will merely [need] someone else who is prepared to [do the same as Harry] next time.
What, exactly, did Harry do that Dumbledore says they need other people to do (or be prepared to do)? "Fight a losing battle"--or what seems like a losing battle. (Dumbledore omits the word "like", but I'll leave it in for this one example.)
[Stopping Voldemort again] will merely [need] someone else who is prepared to fight a losing battle next time.
[Stopping Voldemort again] will merely [need] someone else who is prepared to fight what seems [like] a losing battle next time.
And now we just replace the bracketed bits with the different wording Dumbledore uses, and we have the sentence (okay, part of a sentence) that you bolded.
It will merely take someone else who is prepared to fight what seems a losing battle next time.
Best Answer
Even before coming to the discussions on grammatical correctness here; Since you are using words that refer to the size of the object like 'small' and 'large' you don't need to specify
sizeexplicitly. You can instead ask for a 'smaller' or 'larger' orange.Going into examples cited, I would rewrite them as follows.
Here the reason to avoid usage of
typesis that it can be misconstrued as if you are specifying two varieties of oranges and not the sizes per se.If we are framing it as a question so as to ask for the availability of a smaller or larger orange. you can use