a possible 10 cloudy locations

Itasan · Post by **Itasan** » Sat May 06, 2006 12:55 am

>>The NTC holds a parliamentary majority of 12 seats won from a possible 15 seats.<<
Does this mean?: The parliament consists of 15 members, of which the NTC holds 12, and the remaining 3 seats are held by other parties.

>>The winner of Silver Lining Game No. 4 is Stephen Best of Carlton, Nottingham with a high score of four out of a possible 10 cloudy locations.<<
I don't understand 'a high score of four out of a possible 10 cloudy locations'. What does it mean?

Itasan

Amy_H · Post by **Amy_H** » Sat May 06, 2006 1:43 am

Hi Itasan

Itasan wrote:>>The NTC holds a parliamentary majority of 12 seats won from a possible 15 seats.<<
Does this mean?: The parliament consists of 15 members, of which the NTC holds 12, and the remaining 3 seats are held by other parties.

That sounds right to me.

Itasan wrote:>>The winner of Silver Lining Game No. 4 is Stephen Best of Carlton, Nottingham with a high score of four out of a possible 10 cloudy locations.<<
I don't understand 'a high score of four out of a possible 10 cloudy locations'. What does it mean?

It's difficult to know for sure without further context, but the writer seems to have been thinking of the proverb "Every cloud has a silver lining" when he wrote the sentence.
Apparently there's a game called 'Silver Lining' in which you have to find or reach or win as many of the 10 locations as possible. Possibly Stephen Best played the game more than once and his highest score was 4. Probably the word cloudy has no "real" meaning in the sentence whatsoever other than simple word play (related to the proverb).

Amy

Itasan · Post by **Itasan** » Sat May 06, 2006 2:01 am

Oh, great! Now I understand. Thank you very much, Amy.

tigertiger · Post by **tigertiger** » Mon May 08, 2006 3:40 pm

Itasan wrote:>>
>>The winner of Silver Lining Game No. 4 is Stephen Best of Carlton, Nottingham with a high score of four out of a possible 10 cloudy locations.<<
I don't understand 'a high score of four out of a possible 10 cloudy locations'. What does it mean?

My read is a little different
Silver Lining Game (proper noun) No.4 (the fourth such game). Game is to pick cloudy locations.
I assume the game allows 10 guesses at where the cloudy locations are (score out of a possible 10).
A high score of four (four was the highest score, so Stephen won).

Itasan · Post by **Itasan** » Mon May 08, 2006 9:10 pm

Thank you very much. Now I understand clearly.
BTW, could we say the same thing as '... four out of the highest possible 10 ....'?
It seems 'a possible 10' is a normal expression, but the indefinite article 'a' bothers my NNES ears. There is only one highest point, right? Why 'a possible 10' and not 'the (highest) possible 10'? Sorry I'm too inquisitive.
Thank you. Itasan

tigertiger · Post by **tigertiger** » Sat May 13, 2006 5:46 am

Itasan wrote:There is only one highest point, right? Why 'a possible 10' and not 'the (highest) possible 10'?

No
In this context there are 10 individual points.
You can win one or many (in any combination), or all 10.

Itasan · Post by **Itasan** » Sat May 13, 2006 6:32 am

Oh, I see. The indefinite article 'a' because 10
is one of the possibilities (and it is the highest), right?
Difficult for an NNES, but all the more interesting
for that. Thank you, tigertiger.

Amy_H · Post by **Amy_H** » Wed May 24, 2006 2:42 pm

Itasan wrote: It seems 'a possible 10' is a normal expression, but the indefinite article 'a' bothers my NNES ears. There is only one highest point, right? Why 'a possible 10' and not 'the (highest) possible 10'?

Hi Itasan

Maybe you could think of it this way:
"a possible 10" as a short way to say "a possible score of 10".

Amy

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a possible 10 cloudy locations

a possible 10 cloudy locations

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Thank you.