ellipsis: ten to eighty thousand dollars

Question

I have made up the sentences below.

(1) This antique vase is worth ten thousand to eighty thousand dollars. (NO ELLIPSIS)

(2) This antique vase is worth ten to eighty thousand dollars. (ELLIPSIS used)

Question: in (2), with "thousand" omitted from "ten", would it be understood as "ten thousand"?

Does this answer your question? When to repeat words like "thousand“, ”million“ or ”billion“ — Andy Bonner, Mar 04 '24 at 01:28

Weather Vane · Answer 1 · 2024-03-03T23:27:35.293

2

If the range were 10 to 80,000 the phrasing would be different.

This antique vase is worth ten dollars to eighty thousand.

Which basically means "I have no idea" and an antiques trader would not have such ignorance of its worth. So

This antique vase is worth ten to eighty thousand dollars

would be readily understood as meaning 10,000 to 80,000.

edited Mar 03 '24 at 23:27

answered Mar 03 '24 at 23:20

Weather Vane

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Thank you for your explanation. – ansonman Mar 04 '24 at 00:16

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Mar 03 '24 at 23:13

"This antique vase is worth ten to eighty thousand dollars" is an ambiguous statement. It could mean either that the range starts at ten (10) or ten thousand (10,000). But we deal with ambiguities all the time using common sense. For example, if someone said "my dad travels to work in his hat" would you think his hat was his vehicle? Of course not. So, what would someone think of your statement? If the range started at ten, that's a pretty big range. I'd seriously question the credibility of any antiques 'expert' who valued something anywhere between a tenner and eighty grand.

ellipsis: ten to eighty thousand dollars

2 Answers2