más/menos con de/que

Question

I know that "más de" should be used before a number ("más de 123...") instead of "más que". In sentences 2 and 3, I believe it should be "más de" even though what follows is not a number. ¿No? How about the rest of the translation?

“Hundreds of property owners along the border lost their suit against the government.” «Centenares de propietarios a lo largo de la frontera perdieron su demanda contra el gobierno.»

“They claimed that the government offer was less than the real worth of the land.” «Alegaron que la oferta del gobierno era menos que la verdadera valorización de los terrenos.»

“But the county property tax records indicate otherwise. In every case the government’s offer was the same or more than the value placed on it by the county assessor.” «Sin embargo, los registros inmobiliarios de los condados indican lo contrario: en todo caso la oferta gubernamental era igual o más que el valor imputado por el asesor condal.»

Answer 1

“But the county property tax records indicate otherwise. In every case the government’s offer was the same or more than the value placed on it by the county assessor.” «Sin embargo, los registros inmobiliarios de los condados indican lo contrario: en todo caso la oferta gubernamental era igual o más que el valor imputado por el asesor condal.»

"en cada caso" or "en todos los casos".

What you wrote means " in any event".

That is what I wanted to say. "In every case" and "In any event" mean the same. - DonBigoteDeLaLancha, Jul 22, 2017

I disagree. I believe there's a difference in the customary understanding of each form. "In every case" means literary in every instance when something happens. "In any event" is usually taken to mean "nevertheless". - Gekkosan, Jul 23, 2017

In this particular instance, the writer does not wish to convey the sense of "nevertheless" or "anyhow", but rather: "in each and every one of these recorded cases". - Gekkosan, Jul 23, 2017

Answer 2

DonBigote:

Consulting Butt & Benjamin:

Más/menos que or más/menos de?
The difference is crucial. más de is used before numbers or quantities.

They make no mention of using de instead of que in other circumstances or as a regionalism. When these types of exceptions are common they usually mention them.

In your sentences I can see how you might interpret the things you mention as quantities but I think they are unspecified and therefore should be preceded by que. But, I've been wrong before.

They do mention some circumstances when que should be used instead of de even when what follows is a number. I won't type the whole explanation, I'll just give you one of their examples, which I hope you find funny.

Comió más que tres personas. (not de)
(S)he ate more than three people (would eat)

Comió más de tres personas.
(S)he ate more than three people. (cannibalism)

The basic explanation is that in a situation like this, what follows is not just a number, the "tres personas" is understood to mean "the food that three people would eat" which, if worded that way, the que would come before "the food" and not the number tres. I would bet that this type of mistake is frequently made, wouldn't you?

Remind me not to go to Borneo. :) - DonBigoteDeLaLancha, Jul 21, 2017