Passage of time ...
 

Another English language question ...

Perhaps:

A unit (singular) of time has passed ...
Units (plural) of time have passed ...

e.g.:

A decade has passed ... (A ten year period has passed ...)
Ten years have passed ...

A week has passed ... (A seven day window has passed)
Seven days have passed

An hour has passed ... (A 60 minute time frame has passed)
60 minutes have passed ...

But what if "ten years" is viewed as a block of time ...?

have passed.




My current bugbear is "A savings of....."


argh

If it's mutually understood that in context "ten years" is short for a ten year block (singular); then, has could be used. I'd view it as an idiomatic expression.

Lord, I wish ya'll could meet some of the folks down in the MS Delta. I think you would go into grammar meltdown

These ones have passed, on accident.

I don't want to be rekwaared to get my ass back up in them woods.

My brother likes to tell the kids "Come here once."

Grammar: the difference between knowing your shit and knowing you're shit.

while we're on the subject of TEN.

Please help me with this one.

"The handle saver cost less than ten dollars."

or

"The handle saver cost fewer than ten dollars."

***

Honestly, when I have a puzzle like this I prefer to change the structure to be less ambiguous. "The price of the handle saver was under ten dollars."

If you can count them, it's fewer, if not, it's less.

Fewer dollars
Less water

"The handle saver costs under ten dollars."

The handle saver costs just $9.99!

But wait, that's not all! Order in the next 10 minutes and we'll throw in the lid holder AND the carrot peeler at no extra charge.

Operators are standing by!

It's from RONCO, and it really really works!

(These pretzels are making me thirsty!)

Yep, I know this rule, it's why I even bothered to reframe it in my mind. And the "correct" version "sounds" wrong.

the handle saver cost less than ten dollars.

that sounds right, but is contrary to the rule, so, I asked...

That depends; do you consider dollars to be a mass noun or a count noun? If you are just referring to dollar bills, than the cost is a count noun and you should say fewer than $10. If the price can be $9.999r, than it could be treated as a mass noun and you could say less than $10.

I agree with Jesus.

cute. +1 for cross thread humor.

of course dollars is a count noun, even considering fractional dollars.

Why of course?

because all our transactions, especially ones at the hardware store, are completed using a finite, rational number of dollars. In any event, the number ten, that's clearly countable, it's the number of dollars I'm measuring against.

furthermore, 9.999r is not less than ten, it is equal to ten. We've established this. Just ask ZenGum.

Leave it to all y'all to turn a grammar fread into a mafs fread.

:lol: @ maths reference. You naughty people.


Nine is one less than ten, but nine dollars is one fewer than ten dollars.

I think "fewer" is on it's way out and will be quite archaic in 50 years or so, and simply because we are too lazy to uphold standards. When was the last time you complained to the supermarket checkout operator about the sign saying "twelve items or less"?

Did you just say the fewer the better and less is more?

More or less.

disagree that it can't be treated as a mass noun. It can be both and in that context it's better treated as a mass noun. I feel it's to do with the fractions. You can't count up to 10 dollars and mention all possibilities on the way up. You can count up to 10 birds for example -you would never say "there are 8.62 birds on the lawn eating my grass seed", even in you had shot one and taken off a wing. And you shouldn't say there are less than 10 birds on the lawn easting the grass seed (I know many do) That is a count noun ---fewer. but money is different, you do split it, so round numbers of dollars can be treated as mass nouns.

or something.

It's Friday night, I need a pass......

The Passage of Time
Is Flicking Dimly Up On the Screen
I Can't See the Lines
I Used to Think I Could Read Between
Perhaps My Brains Have Turned to Sand


Oh Me Oh My
I Think It's Been An Eternity
You'd Be Surprised
At My Degree of Uncertainty
How Can Moments Go So Slow.


Several Times
I've Seen the Evening Slide Away
Watching the Signs
Taking Over From the Fading Day
Perhaps My Brains Are Old and Scrambled.


Several Times
I've Seen the Evening Slide Away
Watching the Signs
Taking Over From the Fading Day
Changing Water Into Wine.


Several Times
I've Seen the Evening Slide Away
Watching the Signs
Taking Over From the Fading Day
Putting the Grapes Back On the Vine.


(Simultaneously With the Last Two Verses, Another Voice Sings Another Melody With Different Words, As Follows:)


Who Would Believe What a Poor Set of Eyes Can Show You
Who Would Believe What An Innocent Voice Could Do
Never a Silence Always a Face At the Door.

Who Would Believe What a Poor Set of Ears Can Tell You
Who Would Believe What a Weak Pair of Hands Can Do
Never a Silence Always a Foot in the Door.