Native English speakers, could you please help me with this issue.?

Question

Are these sentences both grammatically correct and do they make sense?

"Cats are nocturnal but were sleeping on the lawn last night"

"Cats are nocturnal, but I saw them sleeping on the lawn last night"

Answer 1

Favorite Answer

When you say "cats are nocturnal" you are talking about all cats. When you follow up with "them" you are still talking about all cats. You probably did not see every cat in the world on the lawn so you need to be more specific. 

Cats are nocturnal but I saw two cats sleeping on the lawn last night.

Or it could be "my cats" or "some cats" - anything that limits the cats to those you saw.

• kari_the_8th4 weeks agoReport

  True, but also you don't need to specify the cats if the context makes it clear.
  
  "Those cats (over there, that we're looking at) are so bizarre.""I know!  Cats (in general) are nocturnal, but I saw them (those cats over there that we're looking at) sleeping on the lawn last night."
  

Answer 2

No, neither is correct.

Answer 3

"Cats are nocturnal, but I saw them sleeping on the lawn last night" is more clear.