8

In the following travel guide I stumbled upon the following phrase:

Art and shopping: Two adults allow at least $35

I can guess that it means that you should take at least $35 if you go to the place or that it's an average minimum for shopping at the place.

But the question is that I don't understand wording of the pharse. Who allow what? Does it have the special meaning which I don't know?

|improve this question
  • 2
    It should read: “FOR two adults, allow at least $35”. In its current form without the “for”, it’s grammatically and logically incorrect. – Chris Melville Feb 11 at 18:37
  • A colon or dash would also help: Art and shopping: Two adults - allow at least $35 – Zoomzoom Feb 11 at 19:15
15

When it comes to signage, alerts, advisory notes etc, certain rules of grammar are ignored. This is the case in most languages and cultures.

"Allow" in this context means to budget for an average or expected amount of money.

If it were to be explained grammatically it would probably say:

You should allow for a minimum spend of $35 per two adults.

It is abbreviated because it is in place of a cost. If something had a very specific price, rather than an estimate like this, you would expect to see something like:

Tickets - $35

... which we understand means "tickets cost $35 each".

|improve this answer
  • 1
    Thanks, the "allow for" phrasal verb is what I was looking for. – Artem Malchenko Feb 11 at 11:14

Your Answer

By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service, privacy policy and cookie policy

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.