not hundreds of?

Lazarakis   Wed Mar 08, 2006 7:55 am GMT
When the amount of something is from 101 to 999, you say "hundreds of". When it's from 1001 to 9999, you say "thousnads of". How about when the amount is from 11 to 99? How do you express that in English?
Jim   Wed Mar 08, 2006 8:00 am GMT
For numbers from 24 to 199 you can say "dozens of".

Note: you wouldn't say "hundreds of" for anything less than 200 (nor thousands for less than 2000).
Uriel   Thu Mar 09, 2006 4:53 am GMT
You can say "tens of", although that's not as popular as "dozen" (multiples of 12).

For multiples of 20, you can say "scores of", as in "Four score and seven years ago..."
Lazarakis   Thu Mar 09, 2006 5:07 am GMT
About dozens of, does it imply those things are grouped in dozens (with 12 each)? Or simply implies there are many of them but not so many as hundreds?

About scores of, does it only refer to the number of years or just everything in general?
Uriel   Thu Mar 09, 2006 5:14 am GMT
Dozens have to be grouped in multiples of 12 (3 dozen = 36), and scores have to be in multiples of 20 (four score and 7 years = 87 years). They can apply to anything you can count, not just years. You can have scores of people, donzens of socks, etc. They are used just like you would use pairs or hundreds or millions.
Guest   Thu Mar 09, 2006 9:16 am GMT
Remember a dozen is sometimes 13 or known as a "baker's dozen".
Uriel   Thu Mar 09, 2006 4:16 pm GMT
It's ONLY 13 if you say "a baker's dozen".

Conversely, "a banker's dozen" is 11.
Guest   Thu Mar 09, 2006 8:04 pm GMT
Short change me at a bank and they should be expecting the worse.
Baker   Thu Mar 09, 2006 11:49 pm GMT
You think you've got it hard, Guest.