Amounts: Majority of Plurality?

Many writers and speakers toss quantities around with great imprecision.

How many, though, is “many” authors and speakers? How great is “great imprecision”?

In casual conversation we might toss around quantities with reckless abandon. Our intent might be to emphasize or de-emphasize a preponderance of something. 

‘Majority’

Consider the word “majority.” In an election, a true majority means one vote or more over 50% of the voters. That’s different from a plurality: the highest total or percentage in a contest of three or more candidates. For example,

If Candidate A got 13% of the votes, Candidate B got 47%, and Candidate C got 40%; Candidate B wins, with a plurality of 47%.  (If you’re wondering why those numbers don’t add up to 100%, Mickey Mouse got some write-in votes. He always does.)

‘Most’ or ‘the Majority of’?

Most of the time, you can write or say “most” rather than “the majority of.”  It’s quicker and clearer.  When precision counts, as in the election described above, it’s best to make it clear whether you mean “majority” or “plurality.” 

Approximating Words

Often—and again, how often is “often”—we talk about small numbers of people or things. Still, that can be vague: Is “several” more than or fewer than “a few”? What about “quite a few” as opposed to “quite few”?  Is “a bunch” less than “a lot”? 

Fortunately, we have modifiers that make things even more nebulous: “approximately,” “about,” “around” and good old “roughly.”

And if you’re talking about an approximate date and want to make an academic impression, you can dust off “circa,” a Latin word that means “round about.” Latin scholars love that one.

Those do come in handy, however, when the alternative is to make a flat-out guess.

In “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum,” Pseudolus asks, “How many geese in a gaggle?” Erronius shrugs and says, “Seven?”

A light dawns on Pseudolus, who then sends the old man on a journey—seven trips around the seven hills of Rome. 

Such is the price of precision. 

‘Some’ and ‘Any’

As for “some” and “any”: These two stand alone as vague quantifiers.

Do you have some sense about what...

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