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Read a news on BBC, I have some questions regarding a word scores in this context:

"A BBC team inside Syria filming for Panorama has witnessed the aftermath of a fresh horrific incident - an incendiary bomb dropped on to a school playground in the north of the country - which has left scores of children with napalm-like burns over their bodies.

Eyewitnesses describe a fighter jet dropping the device, a low explosion, followed by columns of fire and smoke.

Ian Pannell and cameraman Darren Conway's report contains images viewers may find extremely distressing."

Question:

  1. Does scores refer to very high amount?

  2. How high is the amount for scores?

  3. Could massive replace scores in this context?

Any clarity of ideas would be highly appreciated, thank you.

rusticmystic
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    A dozen is 12, a score is 20. It's probably less than if they'd said, "hundreds of children". So it's a number of children most easily counted in scores (plural). If it had been any less they could have said, "dozens or tens" but they didn't and they didn't say "hundreds" either, so the amount is probably somewhere in the 60 - 199 range- purely speculation. Who knows except the author how many there really were. – Jim Sep 06 '13 at 02:30
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    Jim you were first, post an answer! – dcaswell Sep 06 '13 at 02:43
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    @Jim I agree, your answer is probably the best. Make it a proper answer. – Pharap Sep 06 '13 at 02:46
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    Related (not a duplicate): http://english.stackexchange.com/a/16374/5450 – James McLeod Sep 06 '13 at 03:40

4 Answers4

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One score is twenty (see meaning 5). The author here uses scores to suggest a magnitude: a number that is unknown except that it is somewhat more than dozens, but still less than hundreds.

I would not say it is very common in spoken English, but you'll find it in more formal writing. Americans will recognize it from the opening line of Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address:

Fourscore and seven years ago

meaning 87 years ago, but expressed in this way to emphasize the youth of the republic.

Since scores here is a numerical range, it cannot simply be replaced with massive. One could say a massive number of children, or simply numerous children, but this contains less information as there is no indication of scope; dozens would be better.

choster
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A dozen is 12, a score is 20. It's probably less than if they'd said, "hundreds of children". So it's a number of children most easily counted in scores (plural). If it had been any less they could have said, "dozens or tens" but they didn't and they didn't say "hundreds" either, so the amount is probably somewhere in the 60 - 199 range- purely speculation. Who knows except the author how many there really were.

Jim
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  1. Scores refers to, technically, multiples of 20. A "score" is 20 things, but without an exact number, the effect is around the neighborhood of 'many,' or 'a lot;' (stronger than dozens, weaker than hundreds).

  2. I'm not sure this is a productive question.

  3. I see 'massive' to be stronger than 'scores' in this context, and implies differences in the nature of the attack (which was portrayed as focused and localized; score is a large [bounded] indefinite quantity and massiveness is an abstract concept of largeness, and magnitude).

Alan
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A 'score' can mean 20 in certain situations, usually when referring to money (a 'score' is a £20 note). 'Scores' does to refer to a specific number, but it can be taken to mean 'lots of 20s' or 'many 20s', but generally means 'a very high amount'.

In the context 'massive' can not replace 'scores' because it wouldn't make sense. "which has left massive of children with napalm-like burns over their bodies." does not make sense, because massive is an adjective (a describing word) and it needs to describe a noun (an actual 'thing'). A 'massive amount' would make sense, because an amount is a noun (a 'thing') and 'massive' is describing the 'amount'. So this sentence does make sense: "which has left massive amounts of children with napalm-like burns over their bodies."

Pharap
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    You do not have amounts of children, unless they are in fact so napalm-burned that they have turned into one big lump. Otherwise, since they are countable, you have numbers of children. – Janus Bahs Jacquet Sep 06 '13 at 06:38
  • "Score" does not usually refer to money. The word "score" meaning 20 has been around a lot longer than £20 notes have been in common circulation. – TrevorD Sep 06 '13 at 10:48
  • These days people do not tend to use the singular word score to mean 20; it is almost exclusively used to mean a £20 note, and even then it's more common in London than anywhere else because of its historic significance in the cockney community. – Pharap Sep 06 '13 at 18:34
  • @JanusBahsJacquet If you don't like my answer you are free to write your own. – Pharap Sep 06 '13 at 19:13
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    I never said I did not like the answer, just that in the last phrase, ‘a massive number’ would have been preferable to ‘massive amounts’. – Janus Bahs Jacquet Sep 06 '13 at 22:18