tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Sun Jan 19 13:04:40 2003
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Re: "to be" and plurals
- From: "Sangqar (Sean Healy)" <[email protected]>
- Subject: Re: "to be" and plurals
- Date: Sun, 19 Jan 2003 19:10:44 +0000
>But I was wonder, about this and similar sentences, what happens when you
>add
>a number type element?
>
>cha 'oH.
>wej cha 'oH/bIH. ?
>
>Because if you merely used the number in place of the noun, which is
>allowed,
>wej bIH. ?
But should you even use numbers with inherent plurals? As I recall, the
inherent plurals refer to things considered as a single unit/group (can't
remember where I read this); therefore using a number with them would seem
to be a contradiction.
If I wanted to say, for example, 'Launch three volleys of torpedoes', I
would not say
wej cha yIbaH
but rather I would recast and say
wejlogh cha yIbaH
Of course, this implies that the launchings are not simultaneous, but if
they were and were being fired at different ships, I could say:
Hoch Duj cha yIbaH
If they were being fired at the smae ship from different parts of my ship:
poSvo' nIHvo' 'etvo' je cha yIbaH
If they were being fired at the same ship from the same part of my ship
simultaneously, {cha} by itself would do.
It just seems to me that numbers with inherent plurals shouldn't work. If
you want to use numbers, it would seem you're talking about them as
individual members of the group, not as a single group.
>DloraH
Sangqar
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