"a number of"

[Anonymous No.4579594]

Hey /lit/, I was reading this Wikipedia article:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Music_Has_the_Right_to_Children

when I noticed this sentence:

"The songs utilize a number of field recordings and intense sound manipulation."

Is there any point to saying "a number of?" In this case, isn't it a totally unnecessary phrase?

[Anonymous No.4579596]

well it indicates that it happens more than once. it's a bit unnecessary, yes, but not totally incorrect to use.

[Anonymous No.4579598]

>>4579596
But it already says field recordings, plural.

[Anonymous No.4579604]

it's an ugly phrase and usually redundant

but i can forgive it

[Anonymous No.4579605]

>>4579598
Also if he means multiple times throughout the record, why not just say throughout the record since it's more clear?

[Anonymous No.4579620]

>>4579598
"A number of," despite being inherently meaningless in practical terms (anything we could care to discuss would surely have a countable plurality) has a connotation similar to "a few" or "several." That is, it means that there are surely more than one or two, but fewer than "many" or "quite a few." In a sense, it means that there are "a number of" things that is small enough to be worth knowing specifically--so "907265" wouldn't really be "a number of," because you'd probably be more interested in knowing that there are "almost a million," while "6" or "15" would be "a number of" because simply saying "almost ten" or "more than ten" would leave a lot to be desired. So "a number of" usually means "a number some would care to know but that isn't really important for me to make my point."

[Anonymous No.4579636]

>>4579620
Seems easier and more clear to use any number of more clear phrases like "a few," "many," "plenty," "thousands," etc.

Even "a handful."

[in all fields No.4579657]

>>4579594
Yes, my 11th grade AP English Teacher would've failed them for that. It's context is just to make the author sound smarter, while doing the exact opposite

[Anonymous No.4579660]

Read Orwell's essays Politics and the English Language. It deals with this issue.

https://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/orwell46.htm

Pertinent part:
>As I have tried to show, modern writing at its worst does not consist in picking out words for the sake of their meaning and inventing images in order to make the meaning clearer. It consists in gumming together long strips of words which have already been set in order by someone else, and making the results presentable by sheer humbug. The attraction of this way of writing is that it is easy. It is easier -- even quicker, once you have the habit -- to say In my opinion it is not an unjustifiable assumption that than to say I think. If you use ready-made phrases, you not only don't have to hunt about for the words; you also don't have to bother with the rhythms of your sentences since these phrases are generally so arranged as to be more or less euphonious. When you are composing in a hurry -- when you are dictating to a stenographer, for instance, or making a public speech -- it is natural to fall into a pretentious, Latinized style. Tags like a consideration which we should do well to bear in mind or a conclusion to which all of us would readily assent will save many a sentence from coming down with a bump. By using stale metaphors, similes, and idioms, you save much mental effort, at the cost of leaving your meaning vague, not only for your reader but for yourself.

[Anonymous No.4579661]

>>4579636
One of those phrases would probably suffice in most cases, although I think my suggestion about "a number of" deriving from the idea that the number in question is of a magnitude such that it is reasonable to expect to count it exactly--i.e., it's not so small as to be negligible (12 in a hundred billion) nor so large as to be unnecessarily detailed (an extremely large number with many digits--Bill Gates don't have "a number of dolllars," because no one (in this discussion) would care to know exactly how many: they'd be more likely to say he has "a number of billions" of dollars (although of course we wouldn't really say this either, since the use of the phrase is unusual when counting multipliers are needed. It is hence usually reserved for things counted with precision to the ones place).

Either way I don't think "a number" is any more cumbersome than "a few" or "a handful."

[Anonymous No.4579664]

>>4579660
This is the highlight of the essay:

>Now that I have made this catalogue of swindles and perversions, let me give another example of the kind of writing that they lead to. This time it must of its nature be an imaginary one. I am going to translate a passage of good English into modern English of the worst sort. Here is a well-known verse from Ecclesiastes:

>I returned and saw under the sun, that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favour to men of skill; but time and chance happeneth to them all.

>Here it is in modern English:

>Objective considerations of contemporary phenomena compel the conclusion that success or failure in competitive activities exhibits no tendency to be commensurate with innate capacity, but that a considerable element of the unpredictable must invariably be taken into account.

[Anonymous No.4579665]

>>4579664
tfw I don't understand what either are saying

[Anonymous No.4579674]

>>4579660
>>4579664
Wow. I'm actually kind of impressed with how reasonable this is. I was kind of expecting some kind of "edgy" diatribe that did no more than criticize. I'm still not exactly sure he's supported any conclusion except by (attempted) demonstration, but I can't disagree with his reasoning for what the problem is or why it exists.

Good job George.

[Anonymous No.4579681]

>>4579674
Orwell is one of the greatest essayists of the 20th century. I don't agree with him on a lot of points but he had a good essay style.

[Anonymous No.4579683]

>>4579681
cont. also, that essay, Politics and the English Language, is particularly famous.

[Anonymous No.4579701]

What are y'alls thoughts on this? I like it.