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Exodejavu Posted 17 years ago
Vocabulary
The use of "weigh"
I saw in a piece of Taiwan local news:
1. [He] stands a little shorter than 1.7 meters tall but weighed 111 kilograms.
2. He now weighs a mere 79 kilograms.
3. The son weighs 90 kilograms.
I consulted a couple of dictionaries, and I didn't see example sentences put like the second one.
Is the "a" in the second one optional? Or is it of an example of the differences between American English and British English? Or else?
I would like to have native English speakers' comments.
Best Regards,
1. [He] stands a little shorter than 1.7 meters tall but weighed 111 kilograms.
2. He now weighs a mere 79 kilograms.
3. The son weighs 90 kilograms.
I consulted a couple of dictionaries, and I didn't see example sentences put like the second one.
Is the "a" in the second one optional? Or is it of an example of the differences between American English and British English? Or else?
I would like to have native English speakers' comments.
Best Regards,
Top answer
The use of "weigh" is fine in all three sentences (but the tenses in the first sentence don't agree). The insertion of "a" in #2 is a consequence of the use of "mere", not specifically anything to do with "weigh". The same pattern arises with "mere" with all verbs that can be used to indicate a quantity: "He earns $10,000 a year" -- OK "He earns a mere $10,000 a year" -- OK "He earns a $10,000 a year" -- Wrong I'm not aware of any differences here between American and British English.
- The use of "weigh" is fine in all three sentences (but the tenses in the first sentence don't agree).
- The insertion of "a" in #2 is a consequence of the use of "mere", not specifically anything to do with "weigh".
- The same pattern arises with "mere" with all verbs that can be used to indicate a quantity: "He earns $10,000 a year" -- OK "He earns a mere $10,000 a year" -- OK "He earns a $10,000 a year" -- Wrong I'm not aware of any differences here between American and British English.
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4 Answers
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The use of "weigh" is fine in all three sentences (but the tenses in the first sentence don't agree).
The insertion of "a" in #2 is a consequence of the use of "mere", not specifically anything to do with "weigh". The same pattern arises with "mere" with all verbs that can be used to indicate a quantity:
"He earns $10,000 a year" -- OK
"He earns a mere $10,000 a
The insertion of "a" in #2 is a consequence of the use of "mere", not specifically anything to do with "weigh". The same pattern arises with "mere" with all verbs that can be used to indicate a quantity:
"He earns $10,000 a year" -- OK
"He earns a mere $10,000 a
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Oops, a permutation I overlooked that you asked about:
"He earns mere $10,000 a year" -- Wrong
"He weighs mere 79 kilograms" -- Wrong
"He earns mere $10,000 a year" -- Wrong
"He weighs mere 79 kilograms" -- Wrong
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Thanks.
Given that I change "mere" to "merely," the "a" should be omitted, right?
He weighs merely [Number] kilograms.
Given that I change "mere" to "merely," the "a" should be omitted, right?
He weighs merely [Number] kilograms.
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exodejavu
Given that I change "mere" to "merely," the "a" should be omitted, right?
He weighs merely [Number] kilograms
Yes, that's correct.
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