Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums

[kenpapa]

I found a strange number like below. "three hundred twenty-eight million Americans..."
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When Americans travel, they often like to see something new, or get away from their usual surroundings. This year, three hundred twenty-eight million Americans are expected to travel more than eighty kilometers from their home.
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328,000,000 Americans?
Do you have 328,000,000 Americans in the US?

Could you give me your opinion, please?

[lotus]

Hi kenpapa,

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, there are currently 298 million Americans.

http://factfinder.census.gov/home/saff/main.html?_lang=en


--lotus

[Philo Kevetch]

kenpapa - Two possibilites come to mind:

1) The writer has made a mistake in citing the number of "Americans in the U.S." (as Lotus clearly shows).

2) It could be that the sentence is not written clearly and the writer is actually refering to "the number of trips taken by Americans" and is including people who take more than one trip per year.

What is the source of your quote?

[kenpapa]

Dear teachers,

The sentences above I quoted are from here:
http://www.voanews.com/specialenglish/archive/2005-06/2005-06-24-voa1.cfm

Thank you.

Kenpapa

[jellobean]

There is definitely a problem with the article. Either the writer doesn't know the total number of Americans or the writer was not clear about his meaning.