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rather a troubling one

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  • 31-07-2007 5:09pm
    #1
    gosplan
    Closed Accounts Posts: 9,828 ✭✭✭


    ok...
    when I read a phrase like 'a €2 billion development' or '$500 billion assets' I see a problem.

    Namely that '€2 billion' is short for (and is read as) 'two billion euros'

    and

    '$500 billion' is short for (and is read as) 'five hundred billion US dollars'.

    So what the phrases read as is...

    'a two billiion euros development' where the correct phrase would be 'a 2 billion euro development'

    and

    'five hundred billion dollars assets' where the correct phrase would be 'five hundred billion dollars in assets' or 'assets of 5 hundred billion dollars'

    Basically using symbols like £, $, € encounter a problem when you're using the sum of money like an adjective, i.e. to describe the value of something.

    Am I correct about this, does anyone know what I'm talking about?


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    #2
    Tar.Aldarion
    Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators, Social & Fun Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 60,098 Mod ✭✭✭✭Tar.Aldarion


    gosplan wrote:
    ok...
    when I read a phrase like 'a €2 billion development' or '$500 billion assets' I see a problem.

    Namely that '€2 billion' is short for (and is read as) 'two billion euros'

    and

    '$500 billion' is short for (and is read as) 'five hundred billion US dollars'.

    So what the phrases read as is...

    'a two billiion euros development' where the correct phrase would be 'a 2 billion euro development'
    Well, they shouldn't be writing like that in the first place. :)
    As for the first example, in the case of 'Euro', are not both correct?
    As you can say euro/euros and mean the same amount. I.E. two euro/two euros.
    and

    'five hundred billion dollars assets' where the correct phrase would be 'five hundred billion dollars in assets' or 'assets of 5 hundred billion dollars'
    Yeah, those are correct.


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