A deer

[djj55]

Coming to work I thought of the sentance "I saw a deer four times on the way to work". I assume this implies I saw the same deer four time not four deer. So I guess the sentance should be "On my way to work there were four times I saw deer"?



djj
The Lord is my shepherd (Psalm 23) - I need someone to lead me!

 

[CajunCenturion]

==> I assume this implies I saw the same deer four time not four deer.
I don't think it implies either one. The sentence claims that on four separate occasions, you saw a deer. There is nothing about identifying the deer itself. It may have been the same deer seen four different times; it may have been four different deer, each seen once; it may have been two deer, each seen twice; or a three and one combination. Who knows?

==> "On my way to work there were four times I saw [a] deer"?
Without the article 'a', there is no indication of how many deer you saw in each instance. The article 'a' clears that to one deer per sighting. But again, that provides no indication of whether it is the same deer or not.

If you want to be clear that you saw the same deer four times, then you could say, "I saw the same deer four separate times on the way to work". If you want to be clear that you have four sightings, with each sighting being a different deer, then perhaps you could say, "I had four deer sightings, each one a different deer, on may way to work".


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[djj55]

Thank you. I should have thought to expand the sentence but I am very terse in my writing/thinking.

Not that it matters but I saw four different deer as they were seen at various points over ten miles in a straight line of my trip.

djj
The Lord is my shepherd (Psalm 23) - I need someone to lead me!

 

[SamBones]

Not that it matters but I saw four different deer as they were seen at various points over ten miles in a straight line of my trip.

Or, possibly, "On the way to work I may have seen one incredibly fast deer four times."

 

[MakeItSo]

Oh dear!


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[Turkbear]

It reminds me of the prescription instruction:
Take 1 tablet 4 times a day

Difficult without attaching a string to it!



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[djj55]

Or if it did not disolve....

djj
The Lord is my shepherd (Psalm 23) - I need someone to lead me!