He has no less than four children.

Question

Does this mean that he has at least four children?Or that he has four children, which I think is a lot.

Clive · Accepted Answer

Hi,

The latter.

For the former meaning, one would normally say it another way.

Clive

JungKim · Answer

Hi Clive,
Thanks for your prompt response.
I'm no native speaker of English and I had learned and memorized that your answer is the right one.
The reason I'm asking this question, though, is that a prominent grammar book (The Cambridge Grammar of the English Language, aka CGEL) appears to be saying otherwise. On page 363 of the CGEL, it says, and I quote, "[the sentence] gives the lower bound to the cardinality of the set, the minimum number: "at least four"..." Here, [the sentence] is Max has no less than four children.

Maybe this is taken out of context since I'm not sure that I fully understand the whole section containing the above quote. Maybe the rule that I had learned before, which you agreed to, is not always right.
In any case, please shed some light on this as a native speaker. Better yet, if you've got the book on hand, could you take a look at the page and let me know the whole truth?

Clive · Answer

Hi,

It could mean that he has 100 children.

But language is not like mathematics.
Let me ask you this. Are you at all interested in what people actually and naturally say, or do you just want to know what is theoretically possible?

Clive

MalRey · Answer

It depends to some extent on the context. My first reaction was to say that he has at least four children and that he may well have more but we can't tell from the sentence.

On further reflection I can envision a context where the speaker is saying that he has four children and is expressing surprise or mild disapproval at the number of children he has.

I would need to see the context to be sure.

Clive · Answer

Hi,

Let's not even get into whether one should say
'no less than' or 'no fewer than'.

Clive

MalRey · Answer

CliveLet's not even get into whether one should say 'no less than' or 'no fewer than'.

Agreed, that way lies madness.

JungKim · Answer

Hi Clive,

I am of course interested in what's actually/naturally spoken. That's why I'm here to ask you.
Now the very reason why I asked the question in the first place was that I was taught to differentiate "no less than" from "not less than". Some grammar books I'd read specifically contrasted the two expressions to be two different things, "no less than" subjectively emphasizing a large amount while "not less than" meaning "at least". For example, Max has no less than four children means Max has four children, which I think is a lot. On the other hand, Max doesn't have less than four children means Max has four or more children.

Since English is not my first language, I just memorized the rule and moved on. My life has been okay until I came across the above-mentioned portion of the CGEL, which says otherwise. What's intriguing is that your first response seemed to confirm my old rule, but then your second response left open the possibility that "no less than" could be just like "not less than", which seems to be in accordance with the CGEL.

So what I'm asking is whether I should at least modify the rule like the following: "no less than" can mean "not less than" in some contexts but it can also subjectively emphasize a large amount in others.

Thanks in advance to Clive and/or whoever responds to my post.

Clive · Answer

Hi,

You say that you are interested in what is actually/naturally spoken. To my mind, that's the best approach.
I suggest that you try to create each kind of context, in the form of two short dialogues between two people.. Then we can discuss them more fruitfully.

Clive

He has no less than four children.

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