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Pabla Posted 14 years ago
Vocabulary

"shared by few"

"The beneficial qualities of citrus fruits have been known for centuries but shared by few."

I just wonder what the second part of the sentence mean and also what the "few" refers to here, people or the time?
Thanks a lot for help.
  

Top answer

Hi Pabla, welcome to the site :-) Shared by few PEOPLE. In English, ALL, MANY, SOME and FEW can be used as shorthand to refer to people, if there's no other noun for those words to associate with. e.

— KrisBlueNZ

  • Hi Pabla, welcome to the site :-) Shared by few PEOPLE.
  • In English, ALL, MANY, SOME and FEW can be used as shorthand to refer to people, if there's no other noun for those words to associate with.
  • e.
  • most people keep the information SECRET and don't SHARE it with other people.
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4 Answers
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Hi Pabla, welcome to the site :-)

Shared by few PEOPLE. In English, ALL, MANY, SOME and FEW can be used as shorthand to refer to people, if there's no other noun for those words to associate with.

"The beneficial qualities of citrus fruits are known by MANY, but shared by FEW" would mean that many people know about these qualities, but few people choose to SHARE thi
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Hi,

Hmmmm.. I take this sentence to mean this.

The beneficial qualities of citrus fruits have been known for centuries, but only by a few people. These few people shared this knowledge only with each other

Clive
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Thanks a lot, both of you. :-)
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CliveHmmmm.. I take this sentence to mean this.The beneficial qualities of citrus fruits have been known for centuries, but only by a few people. These few people shared this knowledge only with each other
Yes, I can see that interpretation too, now that you mention it.
I think you're probably right.
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