thick v. thickness

hhtt21 · May 19, 2017

"Beneath the sandy soil there was a substratum of clay ten feet thick."

Is the above sentence a right one? Should not it be "Beneath the sandy soil there was a substratum of clay ten feet thickness."

Thank you.

andrewg927 · May 19, 2017

Beneath the sandy soil there was a substratum of clay that is ten feet thick. Only thick is correct.

teechar · May 19, 2017

hhtt21 said:
"Beneath the sandy soil, there was a substratum of clay, ten feet thick."

Is the above sentence right? [STRIKE]one?[/STRIKE]

Yes.

hhtt21 said:
Should it not [STRIKE]it[/STRIKE] be "Beneath the sandy soil there was a substratum of clay ten feet thickness."

No.

GoesStation · May 19, 2017

"Thickness" is a noun. The sentence requires an adjective.

hhtt21 · May 19, 2017

Isn't there any form in which we can use thickness instead of its adjectival form of thick?

Thank you.

hhtt21 · May 19, 2017

teechar said:
Beneath the sandy soil, there was a substratum of clay, ten feet thick."

Would you please explain how the speech version is for the above? "Beneath the sandy soil [pause], there was a substratum of cla [pause], ten feet thick.

Thank you.

GoesStation · May 19, 2017

hhtt21 said:
"Beneath the sandy soil there was a substratum of clay ten feet thick."

hhtt21 said:
Isn't there any form in which we can use thickness instead of its adjectival form of thick?

You could say "Beneath the sandy soil was a substratum of clay, ten feet in thickness." In thickness uses three syllables to say what thick says in one, so the adjective wins for conciseness.

jutfrank · May 19, 2017

That's right. The comma represents a brief pause.

GoesStation · May 19, 2017

Beneath the sandy soil, there was a substratum of clay, ten feet thick.

hhtt21 said:
Would you please explain how the speech version is for the above? "Beneath the sandy soil [pause], there was a substratum of cla [pause], ten feet thick.

I would omit the first comma. In speech, there's a noticeable pause between "clay" and "ten".

hhtt21 · May 19, 2017

GoesStation said:
I would omit the first comma. In speech, there's a noticeable pause between "clay" and "ten".

Is the previous pause not noticeable, the pause between soil and there.

Thank you.

GoesStation · May 20, 2017

hhtt21 said:
Is the previous pause not noticeable, the pause between soil and there.

It's not that it's unnoticeable. There is no pause there, nor do I think there should be a comma.

hhtt21 · May 20, 2017

GoesStation said:
You could say "Beneath the sandy soil was a substratum of clay, ten feet in thickness." In thickness uses three syllables to say what thick says in one, so the adjective wins for conciseness.

Can we say "so the adjective wins for brevity", retaining the meaning of "for conciseness"?

Thank you.

GoesStation · May 20, 2017

hhtt21 said:
Can we say "so the adjective wins for brevity", retaining the meaning of "for conciseness"?

Yes. I think I like brevity better there.

hhtt21 · May 20, 2017

GoesStation said:
Yes. I think I like brevity better there.

Would you please explain what does "I like brevity better there." The phrase should be "like better." Does it mean you like something but you like something else more?

Thank you.

GoesStation · May 20, 2017

Please don't tell a native English-speaker how to use English. The phrase should not be "like better." I would have written that if it were what I meant.

I wrote "I like brevity better there," not "I like brevity better there." I was responding to your post in which you quoted me using the word conciseness. I agreed that brevity was a good choice and went on to say I actually liked it better. I left out "... than conciseness", which the reader can infer from context.

andrewg927 · May 20, 2017

hhtt21, the phrase should be "like A better than B" but you omit "than B" if that can be inferred from the context.

GoesStation · May 20, 2017

You can say you like A better than B. If it's clear from context, you can omit ... than B.

hhtt21 · May 20, 2017

GoesStation said:
You can say you like A better than B. If it's clear from context, you can omit ... than B.

This phrase, "like A better than B" is very new to me but something makes me think that better seems to me more. Does "like A better than B"="like A more than B" here? Is there any pattern as "like A more than B"? Was that completely wrong?

Thank you.

hhtt21 · May 20, 2017

GoesStation said:
Please don't tell a native English-speaker how to use English. The phrase should not be "like better." I would have written that if it were what I meant.

I wrote "I like brevity better there," not "I like brevity better there." I was responding to your post in which you quoted me using the word conciseness. I agreed that brevity was a good choice and went on to say I actually liked it better. I left out "... than conciseness", which the reader can infer from context.

I am sorry if I am misunderstood. By should I tried to make a guess but it is clear that it was like an order. By phrase, I meant to say the part conveying the main idea. So is "like brevity" main idea in "I like brevity better there."?

Thank you.

GoesStation · May 20, 2017

hhtt21 said:
I am sorry if I am misunderstood. By should I tried to make a guess but it is clear that it was like an order.

Yes.

By phrase, I meant to say the part conveying the main idea. So is "like brevity" main idea in "I like brevity better there."

Again, I didn't write "I like brevity better there." I wrote "I like brevity better there." I could have used quotation marks instead of italics to mark "brevity" as a word I was discussing, not a grammatical part of the sentence itself. Had I done so, I would have written "I like 'brevity' better there."

The sentence means I like [the word] "brevity" better [than the word "conciseness"] there.

thick v. thickness

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