eight (noun, "the first eight")

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Espeland

#444399 Tue, 20 Nov 07 01:34 PM

Hello !

I've got a comprehension problem with a passage from Hemingway's "The old man and the sea" :

"They had gone one day and one night with their elbows on a chalk line on the table and their forearms straight up and their hands gripped tight. Each one was trying to force the other's hand down onto the table [...] They changed the referees every four hours after the first eight so that the referees could sleep." (p. 51 sq.)

What is the meaning of "the first eight" ? I've been looking in several dictionaries but couldn't find a sense that fits to "eight" as a noun here...

Espeland

Joined on Fri, Jul 13 2007

Switzerland

New Member (45)

Nouns

Feebs11

#444420 Tue, 20 Nov 07 02:15 PM

After the first eight hours. Thereafter they changed referees every four hours.

Feebs11

Joined on Thu, Nov 23 2006

Senior Member (4,937)

Nouns

Espeland

#444741 Wed, 21 Nov 07 11:16 AM

Feebs11 wrote:
After the first eight hours. Thereafter they changed referees every four hours.

Ah, is this possible then to leave out the word "one" (after the first eight ones) ?

Espeland

Nouns

Philip

#444807 Wed, 21 Nov 07 02:25 PM

Espeland wrote:
Feebs11 wrote:
After the first eight hours. Thereafter they changed referees every four hours.

Ah, is this possible then to leave out the word "one" (after the first eight ones) ?

I prefer to think of it as leaving out the word "hours". Any plural with 'one' hurts my ear. "I like all the gloves, but I really like these [ones]."

Philip

Joined on Thu, Jun 23 2005

USA Pacific Northwest (Seattle)

Veteran Member (6,181)

At reise er at leve! - H. C. Andersen

Nouns, Plurals