It might be a very simple question or even a silly one, but I am really a bit confused when saying "Open your books" while I am asking a group of kids to open a certain book(many students have one book or some books each).
Sometimes I say "Open your book", and it sounds quite OK.
For me, I want them to open their books which are many, but, for each kid, each one of them opens only one book.
Which sentence is more prevailing?
Best Answer
1) One student has one book = 'open your book'. (easy) 2) One student has many books = 'open your books'. (easy) 3) Many students have one book each = ???? 4) Many students have many books each = 'open your books' (easy)
In situation 3), we can say both 'open your book' (because each student has one book each) or 'open your books' (because there are many books in total), and there's not much to choose between them. Google Ngram Viewer doesn't help. I don't think there's a answer on this one. I would probably say 'open your books', because there are many books.