The meaning of "seven’s sixteen and a half"

Question

“That’s what Mother Gunga thinks, is it,” he said, reading. “Keep cool, young ’un. We’ve got all our work cut out for us. Let’s see. Muir wired half an hour ago: ‘Floods on the Ramgunga. Look out.’ Well, that gives us—one, two—nine and a half for the flood to reach Melipur Ghaut and seven’s sixteen and a half to Lataoli—say fifteen hours before it comes down to us.”

This is from "The Bridge Builders" by Rudyard Kipling.

I don't understand the meaning of "seven’s sixteen and a half".

gotube · Answer 1 · 2022-09-11T15:06:41.320

50

The character is doing math and saying it out loud. Here, "and seven's" means "plus seven is", as in, nine and a half hours plus seven hours makes sixteen and a half hours before the flooding reaches Lataoli.

9.5 + 7 = 16.5

edited Sep 11 '22 at 15:06

answered Sep 10 '22 at 01:27

gotube

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Good answer. I think it would improve the answer to clarify that "seven's" in this case is a contraction of "seven is" and not the possessive form of "seven" – Kevin Sep 12 '22 at 18:10
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@Kevin That isn't clear in my second sentence? – gotube Sep 12 '22 at 19:26
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To a native speaker? Most definitely. To a non-native speaker, especially based on the title of the question, possibly not. – Kevin Sep 12 '22 at 20:07
@gotube you were given birth in Canada, so it is typical for you. – Soner from The Ottoman Empire Sep 13 '22 at 14:46

The meaning of "seven’s sixteen and a half"

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