they had a skirmish vs the two had a skirmish

Both phrases are correct, but they are used in slightly different contexts. 'They had a skirmish' is a more general statement, while 'The two had a skirmish' specifies that only two people or groups were involved. The choice between them depends on the level of detail and specificity the speaker wants to convey.

Last updated: March 15, 2024

they had a skirmish

This phrase is correct and commonly used in English.

This phrase is a general statement indicating that a skirmish occurred, without specifying the number of people or groups involved.

Examples:

They had a skirmish over the disputed territory.
The soldiers had a skirmish with the enemy forces.
The two factions had a skirmish near the border.
After the argument, they had a skirmish in the schoolyard.
The protesters had a skirmish with the police.

Show examples from the web [+]

... on their way to Concord, where they arrived early this day. On their march they had a Skirmish with some Country People at Lexington.... " Diary of John Rowe,
Soon after some of the our guard came in reporting that they had a skirmish with them. Soon followed 100-200 cavalry men--the guard. Such a skedadling as ...
Early in the week they had a skirmish with a regiment in Patterson?s Creek Valley on its way to re-occupy Petersburg, but with no important result; 1 man killed ...
Near Abbeville they had a skirmish with the enemy without serious results to the Regiment. Reached Oxford only to find that the enemy had fallen back still ...

Alternatives:

They engaged in a skirmish.
A skirmish occurred.
There was a skirmish.
A skirmish took place.
They fought a skirmish.

the two had a skirmish

This phrase is correct and commonly used in English.

This phrase specifically indicates that only two people or groups were involved in the skirmish, providing a more detailed description.

Examples:

The two had a skirmish over the disputed territory.
The two armies had a skirmish at the border.
After the argument, the two had a skirmish in the schoolyard.
The two siblings had a skirmish over the remote control.
The two rival gangs had a skirmish in the alley.

Show examples from the web [+]

Aug 1, 2010 ... In 1994, Cable #9 marked the first time Cable met Omega Red in battle. The two had a skirmish in which Omega Red got the jump on a partially ...

Alternatives:

The pair had a skirmish.
Both of them had a skirmish.
The two groups had a skirmish.
The two sides had a skirmish.
The two individuals had a skirmish.

What Our Customers Are Saying

Our customers love us! We have an average rating of 4.79 stars based on 283,125 votes.
Also check out our 2,100+ reviews on TrustPilot (4.9).

"Thank you!"
Sachi Nakama July 2024
"I have literally been through chat, PI, claude, bard and bing and I got conflicting answers! Thank you! Human intelligence reigns!"
Retha July 2024
"Faster than AI"
CYNTHIA December 2023
"This was very helpful and I personally think this site is the best."
Kaden October 2023
"It was extremely thorough and very helpful!"
imperialelisa October 2023
"7 years without any disappointment. Always 100% satisfied. You guys are the best in the world at what you do. Thank you so much :)"
Zubair Alam October 2023
"In a world of text messages and online communication, this is great to have as a live tool. Thank you."
Selena October 2023
"Without textranch I would be stuck!"
宏祐 October 2023
"Accuracy and fast response. Personal comments from editor. Thank you."
Clh September 2023
"I wasn't aware of this service, it's fascinating and more reliable than standard IA tools available on the internet"
Arturo September 2023
"The fact that you can get reliable fast feedback on your texts."
Vinicius Antonio August 2023
"you guys are better than grammarly i'm being honest here"
ordinary July 2023
"OMG! This is really good than any other text correction tools I've used so far. Highly recommend this."
Vehan July 2023
"Very fast and accurate. thank you."
mojtaba July 2023
"I love this app because it's help to writing skills all of students ♥️"
Tarisini July 2023
"This was exactly the mistake I was looking for, the wording dind´t sound right at first. Better than grammarly!"
Ente July 2023
"The immediate help that I received was reassuring and very satisfactory. Thanks."
priiiyanshuu July 2023
"this helps A LOT for my studies."
kathnunez02 June 2023
"Woow!! I would never have expected such precision! Thank you soooo much!!"
Berta June 2023
"Real Time Editor and not AI. Many Thanks."
Priya June 2023
"The very first thing excites me about Textranch is how much your editors care."
sepideh June 2023
"The fact that texts are checked by human editors rather than by AI, etc. I appreciate this!"
Анна June 2023
"Feel welcome, immediate response, high quality feedback"
martin.roy June 2023
"This is the best app that I have ever seen"
Burulai May 2023

they had a skirmish vs the two had a skirmish