numbers again

[naama_gat at hotmail.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 13055

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., Penny & Bryce Linsenmayer <pennylin at s...> 
wrote:

> But, Jim -- below is your original point:
> 
> > > There's seating for 1200 at the Yule Ball (JKR states that 
cold),
> >
> I don't think it's "cold" (i.e. indisputable) when the omniscient
> narrator is using words like "about."  My main point is that 
"about" 100
> tables, each seating "about" a dozen people is not absolutely 100%
> seating for 1200 people.  The "about" language suggests to me that 
it
> really is intended to be Harry's perspective on viewing the Great 
Hall
> rather than a clear-cut "this is how it is" fact conveyed by an
> omniscient narrator.  If it were the latter, why would the narrator 
not
> say: "The long tables in the Great Hall were replaced by 100 
tables,
> each seating a dozen people"?  Why would you qualify the number of
> tables & number of seats at each table if you intended to convey
> completely factual information?  I can't explain the qualifying 
"about"
> other than to say that it must be intended to be an imprecise 
estimate
> based on Harry's POV.  But, maybe you have a different view of why 
the
> author would use "about" in 2 places in one sentence?
> 

I've just read the sentence in question, and I must say it does not 
seem as though its said from Harry's POV. To me it reads like a 
simple statement of fact, albeit imprecise. But what is the problem 
with imprecision in this context? The reader does not need to know 
whether there are a 100, 102 or 97 tables. So "about 100" is quite 
adequete here. As to the second 'about' ("seating about a dozen"), 
the same argument can hold for it too. However, it may have a 
slightly meaning - it may mean that there are actually different 
numbers of people sitting at the tables (ten at one table, thirteen 
at another and so on).


> I also think that (a) we have no idea if all the seats were taken, 
and
> (b) we also don't know whether any of the seats were occupied by 
people
> other than current students, visiting students from BeauxBatons &
> Durmstrang and staff members.  Were there alumni other than the MoM
> representatives in attendance?  We don't know.  Maybe there were 
tons of
> empty seats.  On the other hand, maybe JKR just didn't mention that 
lots
> of prominent witches & wizards in the UK attended the Ball as 
alumni,
> etc.
 
There is a slight hint that besides the guests at the top table and 
the staff at the staff tables all the rest are studnets:
"When all the food had been consumed, Dumbledore stood up and asked 
the students to do the same."
Hmm... not conclusive, but it doesn't seem as thought a large part of 
the audience weren't students. IMO, at least.

Naama