[Grammar] 100 of the largest or the largest 100

Status
Not open for further replies.

patran

Member
Joined
Feb 15, 2012
Member Type
Student or Learner
Native Language
Chinese
Home Country
Hong Kong
Current Location
Hong Kong
Dear Teachers

I would like to know which of the following sounds better, 1) or 2), please advise.

1) The stock index includes 100 of the largest domestic and international non-financial companies.

2) The stock index includes the largest 100 domestic and international non-financial companies.


Regards

Anthony the learner
 

emsr2d2

Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Jul 28, 2009
Member Type
English Teacher
Native Language
British English
Home Country
UK
Current Location
UK
Dear Teachers

I would like to know which of the following sounds better, 1) or 2), please advise.

1) The stock index includes 100 of the largest domestic and international non-financial companies.
There may be, for example, 250 companies which are deemed to be the largest. This sentence shows that an unspecified 100 of them are in the stock index. They may be company 1, 2, 3 etc and then number 26, number 149, number 232 etc, simply making a total of 100, but not necessarily those numbered 1 to 100.

2) The stock index includes the largest 100 domestic and international non-financial companies.
If we assume still that there are 250 companies who are deemed to be the largest, this sentence shows that the top 100 are in the stock index.


Regards

Anthony the learner

They don't mean the same thing. See above.
 

patran

Member
Joined
Feb 15, 2012
Member Type
Student or Learner
Native Language
Chinese
Home Country
Hong Kong
Current Location
Hong Kong
Dear EMSR

So it seems that "100 of the largest" is a very broad sense. As we don't know how many are "the largest", 1,000 or even 2,000. The phrase just means 100 out of the so-called largest stocks.

Regards

Anthony

They don't mean the same thing. See above.
 

emsr2d2

Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Jul 28, 2009
Member Type
English Teacher
Native Language
British English
Home Country
UK
Current Location
UK
Dear EMSR

So it seems that "100 of the largest" is a very broad sense. As we don't know how many are "the largest", 1,000 or even 2,000. The phrase just means 100 out of the so-called largest stocks.

Regards

Anthony

Yes, I picked a random number (250) just to give the example. "100 of the largest..." does not mean "the 100 largest".
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top