are you one of the thousands

Question

Do they mean the exact same thing? Any nuances?

To borrow the Macmillan Dictionary's example:

Bạn đang xem: are you one of the thousands

Londoners came out on the streets in their thousands.

may well be phrased as

Londoners came out on the streets in the thousands.

Right?

asked Mar 6, 2018 at 20:29

Eddie KalEddie Kal

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1

Answer 1

in their thousands can mean a grouping of people, implying that they all came out for the same purpose. It can also mean a grouping as compared to lớn other groups, i.e.,

The Londoners came out in their thousands, the Berliners in their millions, but the aliens came in their billions, and overwhelmed them.

The phrase in the thousands is specifically specifying quantity. Perhaps there is a cause for them to lớn be numbered together, but their following actions may be different. E.g.,

The Londoners came out in the thousands. Some came out to lớn escape the heat of their top-floor flats, while others came to lớn observe narrowly the tawdry parade going before them. The children, of course, came out for the hard candies thrown out the sides of the colorful carriages.

Answer 2

It's written in their thousands because there are thousands of them.

In the thousands describes the number, not the people. You could say The Londoners who came out numbered in the thousands, meaning more-or-less at least a couple of thousands and (probably) less than vãn a million. An awkward one; how bởi you describe one thousand, or a million?

A valid (in this context) alternative is to lớn say Londoners by the thousand… although the literal meaning of this is that they appeared in groups of a thousand.

Answer 3

The danger of the former is that "in their XXs" can be taken as an indication of age, though we'd expect this to lớn be more directly attached to lớn the Londoners. Also by saying thousands (as opposed to lớn e.g. 50s) it is fairly safe that age isn't really meant, but could cause potential confusion otherwise.

Agree with Tyaoshauo that "their" does add solidarity.