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Anonymous Posted 14 years ago
Grammar
"Hundreds of..."
Hi.
I have a friend who uses the expression "hundreds of..." in place of "lots of...".
For example, this evening he came back from the shop and told me - "I just bought hundreds of meat". I challenged him on this to which he objected.
Given that he is halfway through an English Literature degree whilst I am only a Physics student he claims that he knows what he is talking about.
Is what he says correct grammar?
I have a friend who uses the expression "hundreds of..." in place of "lots of...".
For example, this evening he came back from the shop and told me - "I just bought hundreds of meat". I challenged him on this to which he objected.
Given that he is halfway through an English Literature degree whilst I am only a Physics student he claims that he knows what he is talking about.
Is what he says correct grammar?
Top answer
In that situation, you are right and he is wrong. " Those are all countable nouns. When you have a mass noun, like "meat" (or rice or butter or milk) the his use is wrong.
- In that situation, you are right and he is wrong.
- " Those are all countable nouns.
- When you have a mass noun, like "meat" (or rice or butter or milk) the his use is wrong.
- He would have to buy hundreds of pounds of meat, hundreds of bags or rice, hundreds of gallons of milk, etc.
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1 Answers
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In that situation, you are right and he is wrong.
Of course he's fine if he says "hundreds of people" or "hundreds of dogs" or "hundreds of bananas." Those are all countable nouns.
When you have a mass noun, like "meat" (or rice or butter or milk) the his use is wrong. He would have to buy hundreds of pounds of meat, hundreds of bags or rice, hundreds of gallons of milk, etc.
Of course he's fine if he says "hundreds of people" or "hundreds of dogs" or "hundreds of bananas." Those are all countable nouns.
When you have a mass noun, like "meat" (or rice or butter or milk) the his use is wrong. He would have to buy hundreds of pounds of meat, hundreds of bags or rice, hundreds of gallons of milk, etc.
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