no less than vs. not less than, no more than vs. not more than?

[yamyam]

Hello, teachers!

Would you take a look at the following?

1a. He has no more than 5 cars.

2a. He has not more than 5 cars.

3a. He has no less than 5 cars.

4a. He has not less than 5 cars.

My English Grammar Reference book says the above four sentences can be rewritten respectively as follows:

1b. He has only 5 cars. (=1a)

2b. He has 5 cars at most. (=2a)

3b. He has as many as 5 cars. (= 3a)

4b. He has at least5 cars. (= 4a)

Is this explantion correct and understandable even to you native speakers of English?

yam.

 

[bhaisahab]

1a and 2a mean the same. He has five cars at most. 3a and 4a mean the same. He has at least five cars.

 

[Raymott]

You second set of questions are wrong.
1b. He has only 5 cars. This means he has 5 cars. 1a does not mean this. If he had 3 cars, 1a would be right and 1b wrong.
2a = 2b.
3a. "He has no [STRIKE]less[/STRIKE] fewer than 5 cars." He could have 6 cars, in which case 3a is correct and 3b is not a natural way to say that.
4a = 4b.

"=" here means logically the same, but you might express them differently depending on exactly how many cars he has, and whether you know the number of cars he has.