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Re: 'together vs. to gather'

From:Philippe Caquant <herodote92@...>
Date:Saturday, January 17, 2004, 13:14
Yes, number, sorry.

Even in the case of "dust gathered", it looks like it
means: there were several small grains, or
discontinuous (discrete) quantities of dust around,
and they gathered to a sole (continuous) mass. It
seems not possible to "gather together" if what
gathers was not separate, thus plural - or is it ?

In case of the transitive form, the plural would apply
to the object.

So maybe "to gather" would be the bridge leading from
plural to mass ?

--- Andreas Johansson <andjo@...> wrote:
> > You mean the concept of number, don't you? > > I assume you're talking about the intransitive > versions of those verbs? As > long as the subject is to be a count noun, the it > pretty much has to be > plural, it seems. But if it's mass, then the sg/pl > contrast is simply > transcended. "Dust gathered in the unused rooms" or > whatever. > > > Andreas
===== Philippe Caquant "Le langage est source de malentendus." (Antoine de Saint-Exupery) __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Hotjobs: Enter the "Signing Bonus" Sweepstakes http://hotjobs.sweepstakes.yahoo.com/signingbonus

Replies

Andreas Johansson <andjo@...>
Costentin Cornomorus <elemtilas@...>