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Joined: Mar 2000
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stranger
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OP
stranger
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 18 |
Hello All,
What is the correct usage - `more than one book' or `more than one books'?
I am confused over whether `more than' modifies `one' (in which case, the correct expression would be the latter) or if it modifies `one book' (in which case, the correct expression would be the former).
Thanks,
Manoj.
Bangalore India
12°58' N, 77°39' E
http://www.geocities.com/kummini/
Bangalore India
12°58' N, 77°39' E
http://www.geocities.com/kummini/index.html
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Joined: Mar 2000
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old hand
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old hand
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 1,004 |
Manoj
The 'correct' expression is 'more than one book'.
'More than' (like less than) refers to the noun phrase 'one book', which is why it doesn't take the 's'.
Similarly, 'fewer than two books' doesn't drop the 's' (even though the implication is that we are talking about only one book, or no books at all).
That's as far as my 'natural' grammar goes. Hope it helps.
cheer
the sunshine warrior
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 2,661 |
Welcome kummini! Aha. Finally a question I have thought of asking, forgot about, and then had the rewarding experience of being reminded with a place to put it! Why do we say no "books" instead of "no book" (or "any book")? (Ir)regardless of how much effort it will take to eliminate the "s" at the end, it does sound similar to blokes on the other side of the pond who say "On Holiday" or "To Hospital" (eliminating the article "a"). ... we don't need no stinkin' book... 
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Joined: Mar 2000
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Posts: 11,613 |
Welcome aBoard, kummini, and please say hello to sweet Avy if you get the chance.
Musick, I think 'no book' or 'no books' depends on the context.
Ex.: "I looked on the shelf where you told me to, but there was no book there". Or, say, an art teacher whose awaited manual on framing did not come in when expected, would have to tell his class, "I was going to show you xyz
technique, but I have no book". But if there was a shipment of textbooks for the students that had been delayed, then they would have no books.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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It also depends on the use of 'is' or 'are'
There is no book.
There are no books.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Surely the choice of is or are depends on whether its book or books, not the other way round.
Bingley
Bingley
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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I thank you all for the grammar lesson, I guess I asked for it...
My larger question is: given the communication of the ideas seem to be successful without addin' an article "a" (or the plural "s" when talking about the collective "stinkin' book"), it is the additional sound(s), or lack thereof, which I seek the splaynin' for. Those gratuitous US's addin' something extra again or are they keepin' up some long standin' "puritan" tradition?
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Joined: Jun 2000
Posts: 724
old hand
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old hand
Joined: Jun 2000
Posts: 724 |
Welcome Kummini from one Bangalorean to another
P.S Aren't the Gulmohurs, Jacarandas, and the Frangipani looking lovely?
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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"Aren't the Gulmohurs, Jacarandas, and the Frangipani
looking lovely?"
Ah, dear Avy, have you no words for their fragrance? They undoubtedly look lovely, but I enjoy their perfume more.Bill
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Joined: Jun 2000
Posts: 724
old hand
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old hand
Joined: Jun 2000
Posts: 724 |
Dear Bill, Bangalore used to be called the garden city of India. Now it is the Tech City of India. But the trees are still here - rubbing shoulders with Technology Parks. And every year in the period between Jan - May they burst into bloom and make a statement with their flowers . This period is summer for us. So it is very hot. It is as though nature on one hand makes it unbearable with the heat and as a concession she gives us this beautiful sight of flowering trees. And there are bees and the butterflies. (One sat on my hand the other day) As the Persian couplet says - if there be paradise on earth - it is here! it is here! it is here!
(And then there is the pollution, traffic, dust, and over crowding, but y'alls don't want to hear about all that.)
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