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Andrei Posted 21 years ago
Grammar

A lot of drunks

0I met a lot of drunks last night. They were celebrating Walpurigis night. 02br
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00Would you say ' a lot of drunks' in this context? Of course a lot of drunkard people is fine. 02br
00Your thoughts, please. 0-
  

Top answer

0 "A drunkard" and "a drunk" are a little different. A drunkard is a person who habitually takes alcoholic drinks to excess. A drunk is a person who got intoxicated with alcoholic drinks.

  • 0 "A drunkard" and "a drunk" are a little different.
  • A drunkard is a person who habitually takes alcoholic drinks to excess.
  • A drunk is a person who got intoxicated with alcoholic drinks.
  • I often meet drunks in weekend's downtowns but I don't think all of them are drunkards.
  • 02br 02br 00paco 0-
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5 Answers
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0 "A drunkard" and "a drunk" are a little different. A drunkard is a person who habitually takes alcoholic drinks to excess. A drunk is a person who got intoxicated with alcoholic drinks. I often meet drunks in weekend's downtowns but I don't think all of them are drunkards. 02br
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00paco 0-
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0 Hi, 02br
00Perhaps I can add a little about usage. 02br
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00'A drunk' is a common term. 02br
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00'A drunkard' is much, much more uncommon, and a lot more formal. It sounds like it's from a Victorian novel. More common terms for the habitual, problem drinker are the slang 'boozer' and 'lush', and the somewhat more formal 'alcoholic' (a
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0 I would say "a lot of drunks". "a lot of drunkard people" is not correct. As already explained, you could say "a lot of drunkards" but that means something different, which you most likely do not intend. 02br
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00Also, though not part of your question, I wouldn't say I met them unless I were actually introduced to them, shook hands with them, and learned their names. 
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0 Ugh! Yeah, "meet" sounds really weird in this case. Thanx CJ, as usual. 02br
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00paco 02br
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0 I thank CJ and the others for the replies. 02br
00In this context, the perfect way to describe those people is that I saw them. I didn't talk to them personally. I noticed their strange behaviour. 02br
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00If they came to me and exchanged a few words, wouldn't it proper to say that I met them? 0-

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