Can I say: "I want two meters"?

[MOYEEA LEE]

Hello, dear teachers.

In some contexts, like a bartender already knew what I wanted.

Can I just say: I want two glasses. (I want two glasses of white wine). ?

I have looked up some grammar books, they say words like "bottle, glass, plate" are partitives.But I didn't see partitives included "meter, liter, kilogram, hour".

It makes me think in some context can I say:

I want two hours. (Can this one mean " I want two hours of sleep" or just mean I want some time.)

I want two meters. (Does this one just mean I want length?)

Thanks a lot!

 

[MOYEEA LEE]

As always, we need context.

We can say, for example, I need eight hours' sleep a night if I am to function efficiently. ... eight hours of sleep is possible, but less common.
If you are asking for, for example, cloth, wood, or metal/plastic you can say I'd like two metres.

I'm sorry for losing context.
I went to buy some meat.
The man asked me how much meat I wanted to buy.
Can I just say "I want two kilograms?" Instead of saying "I want two kilograms of meat?"
I think if you say:
The wine is two bottles.
The food I ate was one bite. (They sound odd, right?).

But this one should be accepatble ,right?

The period of doing service is from 8 am to 9pm.

 

[Matthew Wai]

There are two bottles of wine.
I ate a mouthful of food.
The service hours are from 8 am to 9 pm.

 

[MOYEEA LEE]

There are two bottles of wine.
I ate a mouthful of food.
The service hours are from 8 am to 9 pm.

Just confused about the third example.

We can use " a long time of study" to refer either time or study, right?

After a long time of study, I understand what is going on.

It takes him a long time of study to understand what is going on, I mean three hours.

 

[Matthew Wai]

I would use 'has taken' instead of 'takes' because a long time has already passed.

 

[emsr2d2]

I'm sorry for losing context.
I went to buy some meat.
The man asked me how much meat I wanted to buy.
Can I just say "I want two kilograms?" Instead of saying "I want two kilograms of meat?"

Unless the shop sells a substance that's just called "meat" (without specifying what type of meat), the dialogue wouldn't make much sense. If you want to buy pork, you'd ask for "two kilos of pork, please". However, once the actual type of meat you want to buy has been established, yes, you can omit the name of it in a dialogue.

You: Hi, I'd like some pork, please.
Butcher: How much do you want?
You: [I'd like/I want] two kilos.

 

[MOYEEA LEE]

I would use 'has taken' instead of 'takes' because a long time has already passed.

That means both of the two understandings are correct, right?

I just need to change "take" to "has taken" .

 

[GoesStation]

After a long time of study, I understand what is going on.

It takes him a long time of study to understand what is going on, I mean three hours.

Neither is natural. You can say a long period of study. A more idiomatic way to say this is "He has to study for a long time to understand this."

 

[Tdol]

I want two hours. (Can this one mean " I want two hours of sleep" or just mean I want some time.)

It depends- you could be about to have a nap or a long massage.

 

[MOYEEA LEE]

Neither is natural. You can say a long period of study. A more idiomatic way to say this is "He has to study for a long time to understand this."

Thanks so much !!

" The first period of study is two hours."

Does this one make sense? ("Period" can refer to the time, right?)

Besides, is it a formal way to just say: I want a bottle. (Here the context is everybody knows I want a bottle of wine)
This is one box. (Here I mean one box of pens, I am pointing to the pens, and everybody knows not just a box)
The wine that I brought is one bottle.(one bottle of my home-made red wine, everybody knows what kind of things it is)

 

[Matthew Wai]

I have brought one bottle of wine.

 

[MOYEEA LEE]

It depends- you could be about to have a nap or a long massage.

But sir, I have a question.

Normally, the wine is bottled in 750ml.

Yesterday, my friends drank wine from barrels. They drank 1500 ml.

Can I say:

That means they drank two bottles.

Here, bottles refers to the wine, not the container, right?

 

[Matthew Wai]

I think it is understood that 'bottles' refers to the liquid inside in 'someone drinks (a number of) bottles'.

 

[ChinaDan]

Hello, dear teachers.

In some contexts, like a bartender already knew what I wanted.

Can I just say: I want two glasses. (I want two glasses of white wine). ?

I have looked up some grammar books, they say words like "bottle, glass, plate" are partitives.But I didn't see partitives included "meter, liter, kilogram, hour".

It makes me think in some context can I say:

I want two hours. (Can this one mean " I want two hours of sleep" or just mean I want some time.)

I want two meters. (Does this one just mean I want length?)

Thanks a lot!

Because you are stipulating that a context is already provided for the first case, then yes, your shortened first example is fine. Without an established context, of course, the second two are ambiguous to the point of meaninglessness. There is no way to answer your question since no context has been stipulated or created.

If person "A" is talking to another person "B" who rents boats by the hour, then if person "A" says, 'I want two hours', it makes perfect sense. The established context allows us to make the assumption that he wants to rent a boat for two hours; no other interpretation would make any sense. But removing the context removes the meaning from this statement.

 

[Matthew Wai]

I want two meters. (Does this one just mean I want length?)

Dialogue 1.
Mr Lee: I want a cord.
Hardware dealer: How long do you want?
Mr Lee: I want two meters.

Dialogue 2.
Hardware dealer: Which do you want, electricity meters or generators?
Mr Lee: I want two meters.

 

[MOYEEA LEE]

Because you are stipulating that a context is already provided for the first case, then yes, your shortened first example is fine. Without an established context, of course, the second two are ambiguous to the point of meaninglessness. There is no way to answer your question since no context has been stipulated or created.

If person "A" is talking to another person "B" who rents boats by the hour, then if person "A" says, 'I want two hours', it makes perfect sense. The established context allows us to make the assumption that he wants to rent a boat for two hours; no other interpretation would make any sense. But removing the context removes the meaning from this statement.

Thanks so much for your kind help, sir!

But just one thing that I'm not clear.

I still do a certain amount of work for them.( "a certain amount of work" refers to the work, right?)

Can I say:

The amount of water is 3 liters.

The glass of water is 300 ml.

Thanks so much!

 

[ChinaDan]

I still do a certain amount of work for them.( "a certain amount of work" refers to the work, right?)

Yes. it refers to the work. When I read that sentence, I think to myself:

1. You currently do some amount of work for them.
2. You used to do more in the past (implied).

The reason why I infer from your sentence (the part you did not explicitly say) that you used to do more work for them in the past is worth looking at.

"I still..." tells me that there is history here. Whatever follows is something that has persistence for you. It has been true in the past and is still true now. All that from two words...

It might also convey that something has happened that could have caused the situation to end, but did not. So it could be telling me that something continues or persists despite something that might have stopped this situation. So, without any real conscious thought about this, as I read the next words I am alert for signals as to whether or not this is your intent...

"...a certain amount..." tells me that the amount of something is important in this context. There would be no reason to mention this otherwise. And I want you to recognize from this that putting things into a sentence without purpose is going to confuse a native speaker. We will assume there is a reason for you saying it but then be confused because we cannot see the purpose (because there isn't one). This is why "made up" sentences are so hard for us to help language learners with because often there is no purpose to the content.

So now I put these two things together; I think that something has happened which could cause a cessation of work, but despite that you continue to do a reduced amount of work for them.

Can I say:

The amount of water is 3 liters.

The glass of water is 300 ml.

And now, there is no context. The sentences are grammatically correct, but they appear awkward; artificial (probably because they are).

I recommend that you read, fiction, in English. Then, when you have sentences (or phrases) you don't understand, bring them here for explanations. Then you will have a context. Then you will be learning the language.

 

[MOYEEA LEE]

Yes. it refers to the work. When I read that sentence, I think to myself:

1. You currently do some amount of work for them.
2. You used to do more in the past (implied).

The reason why I infer from your sentence (the part you did not explicitly say) that you used to do more work for them in the past is worth looking at.

"I still..." tells me that there is history here. Whatever follows is something that has persistence for you. It has been true in the past and is still true now. All that from two words...

It might also convey that something has happened that could have caused the situation to end, but did not. So it could be telling me that something continues or persists despite something that might have stopped this situation. So, without any real conscious thought about this, as I read the next words I am alert for signals as to whether or not this is your intent...

"...a certain amount..." tells me that the amount of something is important in this context. There would be no reason to mention this otherwise. And I want you to recognize from this that putting things into a sentence without purpose is going to confuse a native speaker. We will assume there is a reason for you saying it but then be confused because we cannot see the purpose (because there isn't one). This is why "made up" sentences are so hard for us to help language learners with because often there is no purpose to the content.

So now I put these two things together; I think that something has happened which could cause a cessation of work, but despite that you continue to do a reduced amount of work for them.



And now, there is no context. The sentences are grammatically correct, but they appear awkward; artificial (probably because they are).

I recommend that you read, fiction, in English. Then, when you have sentences (or phrases) you don't understand, bring them here for explanations. Then you will have a context. Then you will be learning the language.

Thanks so much for your suggestion, sir.

But I was told that: "The amount of water " means "water", "The glass of water" means " water.
Like you should say:
The amount of cloth is five meters long.
Is that true?Because different people have different opinions

 

[emsr2d2]

Thanks so much for your suggestion. [strike]sir.[/strike] Don't address people here as "sir". It's overly formal and it excludes all our female members.

But I was told that (no colon here) "The amount of water" means "water". It doesn't.
"The glass of water" means "water. It doesn't.

[STRIKE]Like[/STRIKE] For example, you should say:
The amount of cloth is five meters long. That is unnatural.

Is that true? (Space after a question mark.) [STRIKE]Because[/STRIKE] Different people have different opinions.

Where did you hear that "the glass of water" means "water"? That's nonsense. "The glass of water" means "The specific glass containing water".

 

[Matthew Wai]

I think he means that 'a glass of water' refers to 'water', as in 'He drank a glass of water'.