Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums

[missdaredevil]

Dear teachers,
I have five questions today. Thanks for taking the time to answer thame.
1.
The company manipulated their financial reports to pay less *in* taxes.=The company manipulated their financial reports to pay less taxes.
What is the difference?

2
We need to improve the defensive part of our game.=Our team needs to work on defense?

3.
The losing team had "possession more" than the team that won.
=
The losing team had "more possession" than the team that won.
Will I change the meaning if I reverse the order?

4.
What is the collective name for "name, phone number, eamil,address", contacts or details?

5. She enjoys going to places that are under the World Health Organization's travel advisory list.
Is there anything wrong with the sentece?

Thanks a lot.

[CP]

1. OK: "less in taxes," "less money in taxes," "less tax."
But not "less taxes" any more than you would say "less sandwiches."

2. Yes.

3. It means that the losing team had the ball on offense more than half the game. I don't think "The losing team had more possession than the team that won" works, but try: "The losing team's time of possession was greater than the winning team's."

4. Not sure. Maybe "personal information" or "contact information."

5. Change "under" to "on" and it's just fine.
_________________
You live a new life for every new language you speak. -Czech proverb

[missdaredevil]

Thanks, Cp. Sorry I still don't get why it's okay to say "less in taxes" and "less tax". Plus, what is the meaning of the structure of * not "less taxes" any more than you would say "less sandwiches." *?

[asterix]

This is the rule: Use fewer to describe countable things. Use less to describe uncountable quantities, collective amounts, and degree. These terms are not interchangeable.

[missdaredevil]

But not "less taxes" any more *than you would say* "less sandwiches."
Would you use the same grammatical phrase in another sentence?

Thanks

[CP]

Hmmm, I think I wrote that a little sloppily. What I meant: You would not say X any more than you would say Y. You should not say X because it is just as wrong as saying Y.

The "any more than" construction is fairly common. "I wouldn't buy a Swedish car any more than I would drink Swedish wine."

You could also phrase it with "no sooner": "I would no sooner buy a Swedish car than drink Swedish wine."

The twist, reversing the order: "I'd drink Swedish wine before I'd buy a Swedish car / sooner than I'd buy a Swedish car."
_________________
You live a new life for every new language you speak. -Czech proverb