These/the following are two main ones:

Can "the following" and "these" be interchangeable here?

- There are many reasons China have become reach. These/the following are two main ones:

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thehammer said:

Are Can "the following" and "these" be interchangeable here?

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Yes. I'd prefer "These" here, or "Two main ones are set out below".

thehammer said:

China have become reach.

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What do you mean? Do you mean "China has become rich"?

Barque said:

Yes. I'd prefer "These" here, or "Two main ones are set out below".

What do you mean? Do you mean "China has become rich"?

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It was a typo. Yeah I mean reach.

thehammer said:

Yeah I mean reach.

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Another typo I suppose.

Barque said:

Another typo I suppose.

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That's autocorrect. By the way, can I say "These two are main ones." instead of "These are two main ones."?

thehammer said:

That's autocorrect. By the way, can I say "These two are main ones no full stop here" instead of "These are two main ones no full stop here"?

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You can turn off autocorrect.

Both your suggested sentences are wrong. They can both be made correct with the addition of an article. Can you work out where it should go in each sentence?

I'm not so sure an article is necessary. With it, it'd mean there are only two main ones. Without, it means those are two of the main ones.

It depends on what the writer wants to say.

emsr2d2 said:

You can turn off autocorrect.

Both your suggested sentences are wrong. They can both be made correct with the addition of an article. Can you work out where it should go in each sentence?

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Yes! It should be "These are the two main ones" or "These two are the main ones." Now do they both mean the same?

thehammer said:

Yes! It should be "These are the two main ones" or "These two are the main ones." Now do they both mean the same?

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That's correct, as long as there are only two main ones. If there are more than two, you'd need to say "These are two of the main ones".

emsr2d2 said:

If there are more than two, you'd need to say "These are two of the main ones".

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Or: These are two main ones. (As the OP said initially.)

But "two of the main ones" sounds better.

Autocorrect isn't an excuse by the way.

Have you noticed, thehammer, that people who answer your questions rarely make typos? And never twice in a row as you did?

That's because we're careful about what we type, and we re-read what we type. If you aren't careful about the basic stuff, you'll always sound like a learner. And if you take care of the basic stuff, you'll sound fluent.

When I type "its" autocorrect always wants to change it to "it's".