Most of the people I work with use PLENTY in English, in a strange way.
Why? and how can I help them use PLENTY in an English way?
My best translation of PLENTY is:
una abundancia de algo
un poco más que suficiente
And here is an easy way to use it correctly:
- First, you can avoid it by saying:
I have more than enough time to learn this. or
I have lots of time to remember this. - And then, when you’re ready, just replace these two phrases with PLENTY.
I have plenty of time to figure this out.
Take your time, OK?
And, feel free to use it plenty of times.
So, let´s refresh:
The meaning of PLENTY in English is: to have a little MORE THAN ENOUGH of something.
And the concept is about quantity and having more than enough of a quantity.
Please, distinguish it completely from the concept of FULLNESS.
For some reason, people learning English tend to connect the idea of “FULL”
(“ple”-in Catalan or “lleno”-in Spanish) with the meaning of “plenty”.
It´s NOT related to this concept.
PLENTY has a long history.
It´s over 800 years old – coming from Latin: «plenitat».
But, the transformation into
“PLENITUD” in Spanish means “FULLNESS, COMPLETENESS, ENTIRETY.
Maybe this is WHY it’s confusing?
There are always plenty of reasons for confusion!
Having PLENTY is an integral concept
for learning another language.
We need to have plenty of ways to find our words and phrases to express ourselves.
We need to have plenty of strategies to take advantage of our strong points and to compensate for our weaker points.
We need to ask plenty of questions and make plenty of observations.
We need to find plenty of ways to connect with English personally and professionally.
