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Koji from Japan Posted 5 years ago
Grammar

Damages

I found the word “damages” twice in the same passage.

I think “damages” in (B) means “money (that a court orders someone to pay to someone else as a punishment for harming them or their property).”

How about “damages” in (A)? Does it also mean money? Or does it mean ‘harmful effects on somebody/something?’ (in which case, dictionaries say ‘damage’ is an uncountable noun, so I think it ungrammatical.)


(A) Anyone can sue a company or individual who they say has hurt them. If the suing person wins, the judge may order the sued person to provide a “settlement” for damages.


(B) Instead of forgiving the girls, however, the woman sued them. She was awarded $3,900 in damages.

  

Top answer

Koji from Japan (A) Anyone can sue a company or individual who they say has hurt them. If the suing person wins, the judge may order the sued person to provide a “settlement” for damages. Yes, I too find that to be a questionable use.

— Anonymous

  • Koji from Japan (A) Anyone can sue a company or individual who they say has hurt them.
  • If the suing person wins, the judge may order the sued person to provide a “settlement” for damages.
  • Yes, I too find that to be a questionable use.
  • It's the word "for" that throws me.
  • It does look like the writer used the countable noun wrong, but it can be construed as "settlement as damages " , and that would be fine.
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3 Answers
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Koji from Japan(A) Anyone can sue a company or individual who they say has hurt them. If the suing person wins, the judge may order the sued person to provide a “settlement” for damages.

Yes, I too find that to be a questionable use. It's the word "for" that throws me. It does look like the writer used the countable noun wrong, but it can be construed as "s

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Based on my understanding, "Damage" is a general term. It could be financially damages, physically or even psychologically. As for your passage above, it wasn't stated frankly which kind of damages. They used the general term "Damages" which means "harmful effects". It needs more context to determine the case.

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Both uses of "damages" come from the field of law.

damages (plural) : compensation in money imposed by law for loss or injury

The phrases "settlement for damages" and "sue for damages" are very ordinary, common phrases that you see several times a week in the news.

"$xxxx in damages" is also a common pattern. After an amount of money you can have all sort

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