Days/more or greater
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Message from clint01 posted on 28-03-2015 at 10:11:35 (D | E | F)
Hello,
Would you please tell us what we should use in the following sentence:
The days to get there were (more/greater/higher etc).
The sentence doesn't sound that English but we will be very grateful if you let us know what you suggest for days.
Thanks for your help in advance.
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Edited by lucile83 on 28-03-2015 10:35
Message from clint01 posted on 28-03-2015 at 10:11:35 (D | E | F)
Hello,
Would you please tell us what we should use in the following sentence:
The days to get there were (more/greater/higher etc).
The sentence doesn't sound that English but we will be very grateful if you let us know what you suggest for days.
Thanks for your help in advance.
-------------------
Edited by lucile83 on 28-03-2015 10:35
Re: Days/more or greater from lucile83, posted on 28-03-2015 at 10:38:58 (D | E)
Hello,
Could you explain what you mean exactly?
Are the days getting longer, will it take longer to do something, or anything else?
Thank you.
Re: Days/more or greater from clint01, posted on 28-03-2015 at 20:16:35 (D | E)
Hello,
Thank you for replying. I meant it would take longer to do something.
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Edited by lucile83 on 28-03-2015 20:56
Re: Days/more or greater from lucile83, posted on 28-03-2015 at 21:00:25 (D | E)
Hello,
It will take more and more days to get there.
It took more and more days to get there.
The tense of the verb depends on the moment of the action of course.
Hope it helps.
Re: Days/more or greater from sherry48, posted on 28-03-2015 at 21:15:12 (D | E)
Hello clinto1.
Your suggestion...It took longer to get there than expected seems appropriate.
Sherry
Re: Days/more or greater from lucile83, posted on 28-03-2015 at 22:15:15 (D | E)
Hello sherry,
I understood clint wanted to use the word 'days'. Perhaps I was wrong
'Take longer than expected' is much better anyway
Re: Days/more or greater from sherry48, posted on 29-03-2015 at 13:32:19 (D | E)
Hello Lucile.
Yes, maybe he does want to use the word days. In that case, I would choose....it took a greater number of days to get there than anticipated.
Sherry
Re: Days/more or greater from lucile83, posted on 29-03-2015 at 13:54:15 (D | E)
That's great sherry !
Let's wait for clint now...Re: Days/more or greater from clint01, posted on 29-03-2015 at 22:45:08 (D | E)
Thank you all for your suggestion.
I am afraid I did not make myself clear and my previous statement actually made things more complicated. But fortunately, you realised what I meant. I am satisfied with A GREATER NUMBER of days.
Any other suggestion in addition to a greater number of days? Is more OK too?I do have another question but I am not quite certain if I have to create a new forum.
If we weigh, for instance, four objects, and one of them was heavier than the others. Can we say "Object A had the greatest weight"? or should we say "It had the highest weight"?
Are there any rules to choose between highest and greatest?
Thank you for your help in advance.
Re: Days/more or greater from traviskidd, posted on 30-03-2015 at 05:37:40 (D | E)
Hello; it's an interesting question!
I think "greater" and "higher" are mostly interchangeable. However, I would normally prefer "greater" except in the case of altitude (for obvious reasons) and temperature (since we imagine the liquid in a thermometer rising). (Note that "greater" is preferred with height, to avoid redundancy.) But neither is wrong in any case.
See you!
Re: Days/more or greater from clint01, posted on 30-03-2015 at 07:59:26 (D | E)
Thanks a million Travis
I found your answers very useful and informative.
Re: Days/more or greater from clint01, posted on 05-04-2015 at 10:06:59 (D | E)
Hello,
What about the lowest number of days? Should we say the lowest or the least number of days?
Thank you for your suggestion in advance
Re: Days/more or greater from lucile83, posted on 05-04-2015 at 10:10:28 (D | E)
Hello,
I'd say: ...the fewest days...
Re: Days/more or greater from clint01, posted on 05-04-2015 at 17:45:08 (D | E)
Thanks a lot, Lucile.
So we can say 'the fewest NUMBER of days', can't we?
Re: Days/more or greater from lucile83, posted on 05-04-2015 at 19:25:42 (D | E)
Hello,
No that's not possible because few/fewer/the fewest will be followed by a plural; number is a singular.
there are a few people = some
there are few people = not many
there are fewer people today than yesterday
there are the fewest people I have ever seen
You could say: the smallest number of days, but it sounds awkward.
Re: Days/more or greater from willy, posted on 05-04-2015 at 19:56:32 (D | E)
Hello,
The smallest number of days = the lowest number of days.
Re: Days/more or greater from starry, posted on 05-04-2015 at 20:07:59 (D | E)
Hello!
I found that question very useful as I often get confused with all these words. Thank you all
So back to the last question, should I simply say "the fewest days"? And is it common to say "It took the shortest time"?
Re: Days/more or greater from lucile83, posted on 06-04-2015 at 08:15:59 (D | E)
Hello starry,
Yes 'the fewest days' would be more common.
It took the shortest time ...is awkward in my opinion.
It didn't take long ...would be more common.
Hope this helps.
Re: Days/more or greater from clint01, posted on 06-04-2015 at 08:30:10 (D | E)
Hello, thank you again for your useful suggestion.
To sum it up, we can use "the greatest/smallest number of days" "the highest/lowest temperatures " "the highest/lowest weight" "the highest/lowest altitude (rate)", can't we?
Thank you for your recommendation in advance
Re: Days/more or greater from starry, posted on 06-04-2015 at 09:22:21 (D | E)
Hello lucile!
Thanks a lot for your answers!
Re: Days/more or greater from lucile83, posted on 06-04-2015 at 11:41:17 (D | E)
Hello,
>> clint, yes, we can
>> starry, you're welcome
Re: Days/more or greater from clint01, posted on 06-04-2015 at 21:36:08 (D | E)
Hello,
Thanks a trillion, Lucile
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