Learn English – A phrase for “several” multiples of ten

numbersword-choice

Like how $x000 can be referred to as "several thousand dollars", and $x00 can be referred to as "several hundred dollars", and $x "several dollars", what about $x0?

I've looked at this similar question: https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/16356/how-to-use-tens-of-and-hundreds-of
but it's not exactly the same, because it doesn't involve "several".

The suggestion from that question, "several dozen dollars", does sound a little bit better than "several ten dollars". Is that the preferred approach?

However, what about bigger numbers? I can say "several hundred thousand dollars", but both "several ten thousand dollars" and "several dozen thousand dollars" sound weird.

Best Answer

I think the reason we don't say several tens of dollars is that there's no need to estimate numbers in that range.

To put it another way, if we would say several thousand people, then the emphasis is on the thousands, and we don't really care exactly how many. The instances where we do care how many dollars mitigate the usefulness of this type of a construction. The difference between say $30 dollars and $300 both of which fit under several tens of dollars is significant.

Note I can imagine saying several tens to refer to several 10 dollar bills in a context where I'm not concerned with their transaction value directly.

The drug dealer had a wad of several tens.

Related Topic