tens of hundred(s)

Question

So..here is my question for a native or just a high level English-speaker!

When you need to refer to a quantity thats just below lets say 2000..and its a multiple of 10..like 1500,1600,1750 etc..
Is it:

1. There were tens of hundred straws on the floor?
2. There were tens of hundreds straws on the floor?

Please help! Thanks for your time!

Fivejedjon · Accepted Answer

It would be tens of hundreds of straws, but that is very unnatural. Tens of hundreds of is thousands of.

By the way, I take it that you are referring to drinking straws?

Enoon · Answer

Anonymous So..here is my question for a native or just a high level English-speaker! When you need to refer to a quantity thats just below lets say 2000..and its a multiple of 10..like 1500,1600,1750 etc..Is it:1. There were tens of hundred straws on the floor?2. There were tens of hundreds straws on the floor?Please help! Thanks for your time!

I see your problem. I think I'd go with "There were hundreds and hundreds of straws on the floor." Just one "hundreds" doesn't seem like enough for 1750. That would be for, say, 800.

Fivejedjon · Answer

In informal conversation, thousands of can simply mean very many. It does not necessarily imply that there are at least two thousands.

AlpheccaStars · Answer

I agree.

You could readity say "tens of thousands" because we don't have a single word for 10,000, but not tens of hundreds, because we do have a single word for 1000.

tens of hundred(s)

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