[Grammar] Debt

[EverLivingPoet]

Does the uncountable "debt" have a meaning of all "debts" owed by a person/entity?

 

[emsr2d2]

Does the uncountable "debt" have a meaning of all "debts" owed by a person/entity?

He's in serious debt = he owes a lot of money. That could be made up of one large debt or lots of little debts but as a general description of his financial situation, the uncountable "debt" will suffice.

 

[EverLivingPoet]

So, one could uncountably "have debt" to pay off?

 

[emsr2d2]

So, one could uncountably "have debt" to pay off?

He has a lot of debts.
He is in a lot of debt.

 

[EverLivingPoet]

Is "He has too much debt to pay off" acceptable?

 

[emsr2d2]

Yes.

 

[EverLivingPoet]

So then, "He has debt to pay off" could be acceptable by extension?

 

[Barb_D]

Acceptable, I'd say, but you're much more likley to hear it with a quanitifer: He has some/very little/a lot of/so much debt.

 

[emsr2d2]

Acceptable, I'd say, but you're much more likley to hear it with a quanitifer: He has some/very little/a lot of/so much debt.

What's a "quanitifer"?!! :-D Actually, I love it as a word. I'm going to invent a definition for it and start using it.

 

[Barb_D]

Crap! Ever since I changed browsers, I lost my little built-in spell checker. I need to remember to always use that functionality on this site itself. Without those little red lines, I'm lost!!

Quantifier. Sorry!

 

[5jj]

Quantifier. Sorry!

Crap!

I was looking forward to reading emsr2d2's definition so that I could start using the much nicer quanitifer.

 

[EverLivingPoet]

From a Businessweek magazine article: "[FONT=TimesNewRoman,Times,Serif]Toshiba Corp., for instance, has debt equal to 1.9 times equity already."


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[5jj]

From a Businessweek magazine article: "[FONT=TimesNewRoman,Times,Serif]Toshiba Corp., for instance, has debt equal to 1.9 times equity already."[/FONT]

As Barb said in post #8, it's acceptable.

 

[EverLivingPoet]

Thanks!