1

If I would like to convey that 'our group has five people' without describing it in a separate sentence, but rather implying it in the subject position of a sentence. How can I express the sentence?

For example, will the usage such as 'Our five-membered group does something..' work?

1 Answer 1

1

If the requirement is to avoid a second sentence stating the number of members of the group:

Our group, which has five members, will meet on Thursday.

The five members of our group will meet on Thursday.

The five of us will meet on Thursday.

Our group of five will meet on Thursday (per PMV's suggestion).

Our five-membered group ... is grammatical but not idiomatic. The pattern itself (cardinal-number + PP + noun) is OK:

a three-cornered hat, a five-sided building, a six-legged insect

But "membered" as an attribute of a group sounds odd.

2
  • As a native speaker, I like your third option "The five of us" the best. If you really had to use the word "group", I'd opt for a different alternative you didn't have on here - "Our group of five will meet on Thursday".
    – PMV
    Jun 6, 2017 at 12:30
  • @PMV: added your good suggestion as another idiomatic choice.
    – TimR
    Jun 6, 2017 at 13:06

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .