{"id":1193,"date":"2017-02-13T10:14:31","date_gmt":"2017-02-13T16:14:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.kirkmahoney.com\/?p=1193"},"modified":"2017-03-22T13:42:41","modified_gmt":"2017-03-22T19:42:41","slug":"myriad","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.kirkmahoney.com\/wordpress\/blog\/2017\/02\/myriad\/","title":{"rendered":"“Myriad saw it.” vs. “Myriad people saw it.” vs. “Myriad of people saw it.” vs. “A myriad of people saw it.”"},"content":{"rendered":"

According to Merriam-Webster.com<\/a> and Dictionary.com<\/a>, the word “myriad” can act as a noun or as an adjective.<\/p>\n

“Myriad saw it.”<\/h2>\n

The first use of the source-word for “myriad” was in 1555 Greek.<\/p>\n

The original Greek noun for “myriad” — “myrioi” — meant “ten thousand”.<\/p>\n

Based on this, “Myriad saw it.” means “Ten thousand saw it.”<\/p>\n

The noun “myriad” got generalized to “a great number”.[1]<\/strong><\/p>\n

Based on this, “Myriad saw it.” means “A great number saw it.”<\/p>\n

“Myriad people saw it.”<\/h2>\n

The first known use of “myriad” as an adjective was in 1735, according to Merriam-Webster.com.<\/p>\n

The primary definition of “myriad” as an adjective is “innumerable”.<\/p>\n

Based on this, “Myriad people saw it.” means “Innumerable people saw it.”<\/p>\n

“Myriad of people saw it.”<\/h2>\n

As noted, the definition of “myriad” as a noun got generalized to “a great number”.<\/p>\n

Dictionary.com says that this is the primary definition for the noun; Merriam-Webster.com says that this is the secondary definition for the noun.<\/p>\n

No matter which way you rank this definition of “myriad” as a noun, this definition tells us that “Myriad of people saw it.” means “A great number of people saw it.”<\/p>\n

“A myriad of people saw it.”<\/h2>\n

This “a myriad of people or things<\/em>” usage is problematic.<\/p>\n

The word “myriad” in this usage is acting as a noun, but look at the two definitions for “myriad” as a noun:<\/p>\n

    \n
  • ten thousand<\/li>\n
  • a great number<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    Plugging in each definition, we get:<\/p>\n

      \n
    • “A ten thousand of people saw it.”<\/li>\n
    • “A a great number of people saw it.”<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

      Each expression looks wrong.<\/p>\n

      Conclusion:<\/strong>
      \nThese three usages of “myriad” are clearly correct:<\/p>\n

        \n
      • “Myriad saw it.”<\/li>\n
      • “Myriad people saw it.”<\/li>\n
      • “Myriad of people saw it.”<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

        This usage of “myriad” may be incorrect:<\/p>\n

          \n
        • “A myriad of people saw it.”<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

          [1]<\/strong> This is equivalent to what happened to the verb “decimate”. It originally meant “to kill every tenth man”; its meaning got generalized into “to destroy in great number” instead.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

          According to Merriam-Webster.com and Dictionary.com, the word “myriad” can act as a noun or as an adjective. 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