tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Sat Jan 01 18:56:34 2000
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Re: KLBC: calculate in Klingon
- From: [email protected]
- Subject: Re: KLBC: calculate in Klingon
- Date: Sat, 1 Jan 2000 21:56:17 EST
In a message dated 1/1/00 3:30:30 PM Pacific Standard Time,
[email protected] writes:
> jang DloraH:
> >3+4=7 : you have three apples, you add four more apples...
> >If we wrote "three apples" it would be treated as plural and one would
have
> >to use tI-. If we drop the unnecessary noun "apple", would we still treat
> >it as plural or does it become a grammatical singular?
>
> We treat it as plural (e.g., "Three are present.").
Not always. When considering numbers as abstract concepts,
as often becomes the case when doing math, they seem to be
singular. "Five is a prime number". Perhaps it depends on
whether you're calculating something real (like apples), or
doing math for the sake of practice or showing an abstract point?
Returning to lurking,
'IyoDraken