This many / These many

[jack]

Are these correct? If not, why? What do they mean?
1. I haven't seen this many people out in a long time. (If this is okay, why? 'this' doesn't agree with 'many people' though?)
2. I haven't seen these many people out in a long time. (What does this mean?)

Thanks.

[maeve o'cuinn]

Originally Posted by jack

Are these correct? If not, why? What do they mean?
1. I haven't seen this many people out in a long time. (If this is okay, why? 'this' doesn't agree with 'many people' though?)
2. I haven't seen these many people out in a long time. (What does this mean?)

Thanks.

Jack, why do you want to use "this/these", wouldn't it be correct just to say
"I haven't seen many people out....."
Sorry but I cannot understand the usage of these/this here, do you want to emphasize?

Regards,
Maeve

[engelska]

Originally Posted by jack
Are these correct? If not, why? What do they mean?
1. I haven't seen this many people out in a long time. (If this is okay, why? 'this' doesn't agree with 'many people' though?)
2. I haven't seen these many people out in a long time. (What does this mean?)

Thanks.




Jack, why do you want to use "this/these", wouldn't it be correct just to say
"I haven't seen many people out....."
Sorry but I cannot understand the usage of these/this here, do you want to emphasize?

Regards,
Maeve

Hi Jack! I haven't seen this many people out in a long time. "This many" is the same as "this amount" of people. Plus - "I haven't seen many people out" doesn't have the same meaning at all. Of course you want to emphasize. "This many people" is a whole lot of them, "not many" is , well, not many.
engelska