Properties of amounts and measures

Abstract

In this talk, I consider a variety of constructions in which a property appears to be predicated of an amount or measure, rather than an ‘ordinary’ individual. For example:
(1) 10 kilos of chicken is too much food.
(cf. Those pizzas are too much food.)
(2) 20 kilos is too heavy (for a suitcase you have to carry).
(cf. The suitcase is too heavy.)
(3) The girl’s tall height made her a natural for the basketball team.
(cf. the tall girl…)
I seek to address what sort of entities these amounts and measures might be, and how a property such as ‘heavy’ or ‘too much food’ can be ascribed to them. I then discuss some broader consequences for the semantics of degree.