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Donald
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Post by Donald » Thu Aug 14, 2014 11:15 pm

:D

Most is by definition the majority of any given set.

Some can be more or less than most, since it is unspecified.

So it is incorrect to say that there is a greater chance of most meaning more than some when not all of the parameters are known.

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Donald
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Post by Donald » Thu Aug 14, 2014 11:19 pm

We have fun, don't we.

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Post by paul bristol uk » Thu Aug 14, 2014 11:49 pm

If we joined your world,probably! :lol:
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Post by wurlycorner » Thu Aug 14, 2014 11:51 pm

Yes. Donald is well able to entertain himself. (Even without resorting to putting his hands in his pants...)

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Post by Sailor » Fri Aug 15, 2014 12:05 am

If we were to say that Donald had some of his hands in his pants, we might imagine that he had both of them there - as we almost certainly would if we heard that had most of his hands in. 'Some' is unspecified, but is usually taken to be plural. This is my understanding of the general parlance, anyway.

Now, exactitude and stiff adherence to dictionary definitions don't always agree with the general usage of words. Most people would take 'some' to not exceed 'most'.

On the other hand, if we were to say that Donald had his hands in most of his pants, we would construct a different set of scenarios altogether.
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Donald
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Post by Donald » Fri Aug 15, 2014 8:01 am

Sailor wrote:Now, exactitude and stiff adherence to dictionary definitions don't always agree with the general usage of words. Most people would take 'some' to not exceed 'most'.
That would make some people wrong and might partially explain why this year's exam results are the lowest (avg) for 32 years and the state of our English and maths is shocking. :lol:

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Post by wurlycorner » Fri Aug 15, 2014 8:15 am

Besides dictionary definitions, the English language is also defined and developed by common usage and in that (sometimes to it's benefit, now moreso to it's detriment in the modern illiterate internet age :roll: ), so we must consider that 'some' is actually indeed generally taken to be less than 'most'.

Anyway, to go back to where this all started... I'm impressed you're enough of a pedant to even take issue with a post agreeing and emphasising what you've said Donald :lol:

Consistently sticking to your moral code :rock:

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Post by Donald » Fri Aug 15, 2014 8:37 am

wurlycorner wrote:the English language is also defined and developed by common usage
Of course and that's great, but not when it happens to words that quantify something. That's just asking for trouble. ;)

Then there's the issue of extra words, and parantheses that when removed leave the sentence... odd. :P
wurlycorner wrote:Besides dictionary definitions, the English language is also defined and developed by common usage and in that, so we must consider that 'some' is actually indeed generally taken to be less than 'most'.
I don't care if I'm a pedant. It be fun. I know I make a lot of mistakes, too :lol:

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Post by Donald » Fri Aug 15, 2014 8:46 am

Can you imagine how I reached when someone deducted marks from an assignment because they thought I was wrong saying anything to the power of 0 is 1. :lol:
Last edited by Donald on Fri Aug 15, 2014 9:34 am, edited 2 times in total.

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Post by wurlycorner » Fri Aug 15, 2014 8:52 am

No. Because I don't know how tall the other person was. But I can imagine how you reacted!

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