Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums

[navi]

1-I don't remember a lot of things that happened on that day.
2-I don't remember many things that happened on that day.

Aren't these sentences ambiguous? Couldn't they mean:
a-It is not true that I remember a lot of things that happened on that day.
and:
b-There are a lot of things that happened on that day that I don't remember.

b is logically different to a, since it does not exclude the possibility that I do actually remember a lot of things that happpened on that day.

There are a lot of things that I remember and a lot of things that I don't remember.

Consider:
3-I remember a lot of things and I don't remember a lot of other things.
4-I remember many things and I don't remember many other things.

[bud]

Hi Navi,

I don't know if I agree that they are ambiguous. Maybe imprecise is more accurate. They both state clearly that there are many things that I don't remember, but they are indefinite as to how much I do remember. I might remember many things or just a few things.

Hope that helps.