When an adjective is used in structure “ in length “ as is the case with sentence below, does it change it's meaning ?
We can cut lumbers into 5 meters in longest length .
If this sentence are wrong ,please correct me .
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"lumbers" with an "s" is simply totally wrong. You cut planks to length. The word "lumbers" does not exist (except in very unusual situations).– FattieCommented Mar 25, 2019 at 11:15
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Note that timber (softwood anyway) tends to come in a variety of standard sizes from 1.8m to 6.3m. It would be quite limiting to be unable to provide timber in a length of less than 5m.– StrawberryCommented Mar 25, 2019 at 13:13
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What are you asking? In the first sentence, you say that 5 meters is the longest length, but in your second sentence you say it's the minimum length. The words longest and minimum have essentially opposite meanings.– Jason BassfordCommented Mar 25, 2019 at 16:45
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I deleted second one . I realized later . My fault. I asked if the use of in longest length correct or not.– user90151Commented Mar 25, 2019 at 17:00
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2 Answers
I think "lumber" is a non-countable noun, and "timber" is both countable and non-countable, but that may be an American English difference if that's what you're learning.
"We can cut lumber to 5 metres longest length" means (a) they can cut to less than 5 metres, and (b) some pieces will be shorter than 5 metres.
"We can cut timber into minimum of 5 metres" means they can't cut timber shorter than 5 metres -- the opposite to above.
The reason we say, for example, "5 metres in length" is to show that the measurement of 5 metres is the length and not any other dimension such as width. We don't always prefix "length" with "in".
You are right in saying that "lumber" and "timber" are non-countable nouns, but "a length" can be used as a noun for a specific cut of timber, the plural of which is "lengths".
So you could say:
We can cut timber into 5-metre minimum lengths.*
*you have to be careful this does not sound like you mean 5 lengths of one metre each, because a 1-metre length can be called "a metre length".
or
We can cut timber into lengths no shorter than 5 metres.
(these are using "length" as a noun for the piece of cut timber)
or
The minimum length we can cut timber into is 5 metres.
(this is using "length" as a noun for the measurement)
answered Mar 25, 2019 at 9:36
