[General] numerical strength

[Silverobama]

Hi,

What does this sentence mean?


We have numerical strength over the enemy.

Thanks a lot

 

[Rolex_Cellini]

outnumber

 

[5jj]

There are more of us than there are of them.

 

[Silverobama]

Did the sentence express idiomatically?

 

[Rover_KE]

Did the sentence express idiomatically?

Yes, but the one above is not idiomatic.

'Does the sentence sound idiomatic?'

'Is the sentence expressed idiomatically?'

Rover

 

[BobK]

Hi,

Did the sentence express idiomatically?

Yes,...

I'm not sure. It's easy enough to understand, but it sounds stilted to me. I'd prefer this:

Hi,
...


We have a numerical [STRIKE]strength[/STRIKE] advantage over the enemy.

Thanks a lot

or "We have [STRIKE]strength[/STRIKE] superioritiy over the enemy.'

I feel BNC beckoning. ;-)

b

 

[BobK]

BNC has spoken; I am off down the garden to eat worms ;-)

1 NUMERICAL DATA 33
2 NUMERICAL ORDER 31
3 NUMERICAL VALUE 25
4 NUMERICAL VALUES 24
5 NUMERICAL TERMS 22
6 NUMERICAL IDENTITY 17
7 NUMERICAL EXAMPLE 16
8 NUMERICAL SUPERIORITY 16
9 NUMERICAL INFORMATION 12
10 NUMERICAL METHODS 12
11 NUMERICAL STRENGTH 10
12 NUMERICAL ANALYSIS 9
13 NUMERICAL MAJORITY 9
14 NUMERICAL MODELLING 9
15 NUMERICAL DIVERSITY 8
...

See more here: British National Corpus (BYU-BNC) . 'Advantage' is not even in the frame (at least, not in the top 100)!

b

PS Worms regurgitated. I was asking the wrong question, BNC has no instances of 'numerical + <noun> + over'. My original uneasiness about 'numerical strength over' is vindicated (although my alternative wording isn't)