The winner of tonight's talent contest will be decided by ()? clapometer.

No

I've always heard 'applause meter', but that doesn't make the other incorrect.

Thanks for the replies.

Could you tell me why there does not need an article?

Thanks again

PBF

Definition

clapometer http://www.EnglishForward.com/English/define.asp?dict=CALD&key=13862&ph=on
noun [C or U]
a device used to measure the popularity of someone or something by the amount that people clap, especially on television programmes:
The audience lo

That's where I got the example from. Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary.

I wonder though why we don't put an article before 'clapometer' in '...will be decided by clapometer.

Thanks

PBF

The following is from another dictionary. Main Entry:	clapometer
Part of Speech:	n
Definition:	a device for measuring and moni

Winner will be determined by applause sounds perfectly natural to me, without an article. It would an article if modified: the applause of the audience, the reading of a clapometer.

Hi,

Is there really such a device, or is it, as I suspect, just a humorous way of saying that the show's host will listen to the applause and decide who receives the most?

Best wishes, Clive

Hi Clive

If claptometer is not a device, how do you explain that it can be found in the following dictionaries?

1. http://dictionary.cambridge.org/results.asp?dict=B&searchword=clapometer : Cambridge International Dictionary of English [,

Hi,
I just asked the question.

Consider that there's no such thing as a perpetual-motion machine, yet the phrase is often used.

Nor is there such a thing as a widget.

Best wishes, Clive