Grammar question
Hello, native English speakers here please...if I say to you “not a lot of people get to see their 30th birthdays” what does that tell you.
Posted Mar 21, 2020, 9:31 PM UTC
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Hello, native English speakers here please...if I say to you “not a lot of people get to see their 30th birthdays” what does that tell you.
Posted Mar 21, 2020, 9:31 PM UTC
this means that many people die before they reach 30 years old.
But this has nothing to do with many people who did get to see their 30th birthday right ?
No. “Not a lot” implies that more people die before 30 than reach that age. It’s effectively the same thing as saying “Few people get to see their 30th birthday.”
On the other hand, “A lot of people don’t get to see their 30th birthday” would imply that many people die before 30, but wouldn’t say anything about the number of people who do make it to 30.