1

All examples are mine.
Could you help me to deal with them?

(1a) There are some thousand people. - as far as I know, it's correct
(1b) There are some a thousand people. - ??? (I don't know if it's correct)
(1c) There are some one thousand people. - as far as I know, it's correct

(2a) There are about thousand people. - ??? (I don't know if it's correct)
(2b) There are about a thousand people. - I'm sure it's correct
(2c) There are about one thousand people. - I'm sure it's correct

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4
  • 1
    (1b) and (2a) are incorrect.
    – Kate Bunting
    Commented Jul 27, 2022 at 8:46
  • 1
    Your question is unclear. If you're just asking for your examples to be checked, that is off-topic. Your title suggests you're considering the difference between the two words but you don't actually ask that in the body of your question.
    – Astralbee
    Commented Jul 27, 2022 at 9:01
  • I see a clear point of uncertainty and define grammar point here, so I don't see this question as problem
    – James K
    Commented Jul 27, 2022 at 9:33
  • It would be useful if the OP explained what they think the examples mean or what they are interested in.
    – Stuart F
    Commented Jul 27, 2022 at 13:59

1 Answer 1

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1

"about" is the normal way to express approximate values. Use this, but you do need "a" or "one", so 2a is not correct.

Using some as an adverb like this is rather rare and informal, 1a and 1c are rare, but correct.

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2
  • As a BrE speaker I don't find anything unusual about some thousand people. Oxford Languages gives as its third definition (used with a number) approximately - 'some thirty different languages are spoken'.
    – Kate Bunting
    Commented Jul 27, 2022 at 13:37
  • I've removed the bit about dialect. Using "some" is still not the most usual way to indicate approximations.
    – James K
    Commented Jul 27, 2022 at 13:41

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