tens of people

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-hundreds of people
-thousands of people
-tens of thousands of people
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In dictionaries, TEN does not find a place as a noun so my question:

Can we say this?:

-Inside a classroom, there are tens of students/people.

TENS does not sound right. To mean a range running from 10-90.

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Type: Question • Score: 7 • Views: 734 • Replies: 11

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@WBYeats,

"Tens of students or people" sounds absurd...

...but I have often heard the expression "tens of thousands of dollars"...

...and that sounds to my ear to be reasonable.

So apparently "tens" can be used that way just like "hundreds" and "thousands." Just depends on how you use it.

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I blame the Danes. They counted by twelves. so we are hag-ridden by dozens, and the lowly tens have become orphans.

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@Frank Apisa,

Frank Apisa wrote:

So apparently "tens" can be used that way just like "hundreds" and "thousands."

I don't think so. "Tens of thousands of people", yes, "Tens of people", no. For numbers less than 100 the nouns are "dozens" (twelves) and "scores" (twenties).

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@contrex,

contrex wrote:

Frank Apisa wrote:
So apparently "tens" can be used that way just like "hundreds" and "thousands."

I don't think so. "Tens of thousands of people", yes, "Tens of people", no. For numbers less than 100 the nouns are "dozens" (twelves) and "scores" (twenties).

Yes, Contrex...that is what I said.

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@Setanta,

The Danes counted with 10 as well as twelve and also dozens. Dozens usually were used when counting certain types of food
Dozen from . douzaine, douze , lat. duodecim), In the Nordic countries the word dozen is used for the first time 1422 in connections with foreign tradesmen rights for retail business.

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@Frank Apisa,

Frank Apisa wrote:

contrex wrote:

Frank Apisa wrote:
So apparently "tens" can be used that way just like "hundreds" and "thousands."

I don't think so. "Tens of thousands of people", yes, "Tens of people", no. For numbers less than 100 the nouns are "dozens" (twelves) and "scores" (twenties).

Yes, Contrex...that is what I said.

You said:

Quote:

So apparently "tens" can be used that way just like "hundreds" and "thousands."

I was just clarifying that while we can say "tens of thousands/millions/billions" we don't say just "tens" of anything. I didn't think that what you wrote made that clear.

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@contrex,

If A2K is reflective of the general population of humanity...

...humanity does not have a chance of surviving.

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Thank you~

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@Frank Apisa,

Frank Apisa wrote:

If A2K is reflective of the general population of humanity...

...humanity does not have a chance of surviving.

Well hey, if humanity can't understand what Frank Apisa is trying to say, then humanity shouldn't have a chance.

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I don't mind "tens" being used in that way. It's unusual, I grant you. "Dozens" is more commonly used, for approximations or estimations of less than a hundred.

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@McTag,

Thank you

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tens of people

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