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Debpriya De Posted 16 years ago
Grammar

Of

"There were twelve of us in all for dinner." This sentence can have two meanings. Firstly, it can mean that a group of 12 people in all were present at the dinner. Secondly, it can mean that 12 of a group of 12 or more people were present at the dinner.
So how can we remove the ambiguity?
  

Top answer

Hi Twelve of a group of twelve = twelve. There were twelve of us in all (people) for dinner. This doesn't tell us anything more than exactly that.

— Optilang

  • Hi Twelve of a group of twelve = twelve.
  • There were twelve of us in all (people) for dinner.
  • This doesn't tell us anything more than exactly that.
  • In ohter words, it tells us how many people were present.
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5 Answers
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Hi

Twelve of a group of twelve = twelve.

There were twelve of us in all (people) for dinner. This doesn't tell us anything more than exactly that. In ohter words, it tells us how many people were present.
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But when we say "There are six of us here" we can also mean that six of us are here and the rest are outside.
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Hi

When we say 'There are six of us here' - it means just that. We don't know if the six are part of a larger group. The 'us' refers back to the 'six' - it doesn't imply that some of 'us' are not present.
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But what if we have to imply that some of us are not present here ?
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Then you would need something like:

There were only five us at the meeting. (The others couldn't make it).
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