count

To count is to arrive at a number for a group of things or people, but the word "count" is also used when describing something that is important or something that really matters.

• His opinion doesn’t count. (It’s not important in this situation. / It doesn’t matter.)
• The decisions she makes really count. Everyone in the company is affected by what she decides.
• Elections count. Go vote!

If you add the preposition "on" to "count," you get "count on" which means depend on or rely on:

• You can’t count on him to come to class on time. He’s always late.
• Can I count on you to help me this weekend?
• I’m counting on you.
• He counts on his wife for her support.

The next set of examples shows how the word "count" might be used when determining a number.

• The little girl can count up to twenty.
• Did you count all of the students in the classroom?
• An odometer counts the number of miles that a car has traveled.
• She met so many interesting people at the event she can’t count them all.

The word can also be used as a noun when talking about an amount:

• What’s the count? (….during a baseball game when asking about balls and strikes.)
• We have to do another count. (When talking inventory at a store.)
• A recent count of city residents shows that the population has increased by ten percent.
• By my count, there are a few people missing from our group.

Some people use an adding machine to count things.

Click here to learn more words.

May 29, 2014