two teams of four players?

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kimfinale - 28 Dec 2006 15:25 GMT

Hello,

I looked up the word, "curling" in the dictionary and it says,

curling is a game played on ice in which two teams of four players each
compete in sliding large stones toward a mark in the center of a
circle.

I think I understand what curling means, but still don't know how many
people are supposed to play this game.

When you say, "two teams of four players",

1. does that mean that each team has two players?
2. Or, just from the phrase, is it also possible that one team with
one player and the other team with three players?
3. Or does that mean each team has four players?

Thanks in advance.

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HVS - 28 Dec 2006 15:34 GMT

On 28 Dec 2006, kimfinale wrote

> Hello,
>
[quoted text clipped - 8 lines]
>
> When you say, "two teams of four players",

You've divided the sentence in the wrong place: it's "two teams of
four players each" whixh "compete...", etc.

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Cheers, Harvey

Canadian and British English, indiscriminately mixed
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nancy13g@verizon.net - 28 Dec 2006 16:05 GMT

> Hello,
>
[quoted text clipped - 13 lines]
> one player and the other team with three players?
> 3. Or does that mean each team has four players?

In re-reading the definition you quote, I can see where it might be
possible to read it as "two teams (of four players) each compete" --
but what it actually *does* mean is "two teams (of four players each)
compete". There are two teams, they have four players each, and option
3 above is the only one that is correct.

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kimfinale - 28 Dec 2006 19:17 GMT

Thank you very much!

> > Hello,
> >
[quoted text clipped - 19 lines]
> compete". There are two teams, they have four players each, and option
> 3 above is the only one that is correct.

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Mark Brader - 29 Dec 2006 01:53 GMT

Kim Finale asks about:

> > curling is a game played on ice in which two teams of four players each
> > compete in sliding large stones toward a mark in the center of a
> > circle.

Nancy G. writes:

> In re-reading the definition you quote, I can see where it might be
> possible to read it as "two teams (of four players) each compete" --
> but what it actually *does* mean is "two teams (of four players each)
> compete". There are two teams, they have four players each...

This is true, but it must be added that the word "each" is actually
optional in the original sentence. If it had said "two teams of four
players compete", that would already mean that there are four players
on each team. (If we wanted to give the total number of players, we
would say something like "eight players in two teams" or "two teams
with a total of eight players".)

In fact, once "each" is deleted, the word "players" can also be left
implicit: "two teams of four compete". In this case I think this wording
is a bit confusing; it would be more common at the end of a sentence.
"Curling is a game played on ice by two teams of four. Each player
slides a large stone toward a..."

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Mark Brader, Toronto "The last time I trusted you, we had Mark."
msb@vex.net -- Jill, "Home Improvement" (B.K. Taylor)

My text in this article is in the public domain.

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kimfinale - 06 Jan 2007 22:50 GMT

Thank you so much.

> Kim Finale asks about:
> > > curling is a game played on ice in which two teams of four players each
[quoted text clipped - 24 lines]
>
> My text in this article is in the public domain.

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Discussion Groups / English Usage / January 2007

two teams of four players?