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Is there any plausible way of expressing a sentence like

There are thousands of people in this city

Could you express that with numbers? Using the figure 1000 would make it look like "a thousand people in this city"

John K
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    Why do you want to do that? 1000s. – herisson Oct 06 '15 at 21:50
  • @sumelic If I said There are 1000s of people here , would it be understandable to most people? I want to replace the word with the number. – John K Oct 06 '15 at 21:53
  • As sumelic says, you can write, "There are 1000s of people in this city" However it seems a pointless thing to do. Why do you wish to do it? – chasly - supports Monica Oct 06 '15 at 21:53
  • @chazlyfromUK Then its problem solved. Someone needs to make an answer – John K Oct 06 '15 at 21:54
  • Interesting question. I think the very purpose of a word like thousands is to escape putting in a definite number. It's a range, and a conveniently wide one at that. – R.S. Oct 06 '15 at 22:16
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    there you go. If you are using it in writing I suggest using thousands but if you are using it in writing in a business standpoint or citing facts, use the number form – anonymous Oct 06 '15 at 22:27
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    I'd suggest using "thousands" even when writing about business or citing facts. The only use I can see for "1000s" is that it saves a few characters. – herisson Oct 07 '15 at 00:27

1 Answers1

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As an answer to your question ,the definition of thousands based off of dictionary.com

Thousands
the numbers between 1000 and 999,999, as in referring to an amount of something: Property damage was in the thousands.

The plural number form to express thousands:

1000s American and common universal according to spellcheckers 
1000's British (old school)
Although using an apostrophe-S to make a number plural is somewhat common, it is incorrect.

Just one quick bit of advice: If you state "1000s", make sure you have at least 2 thousand, the minimum required for plural of one thousand to make it grammatically correct.

Thus: 1000s is the grammatically correct answer.

herisson
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anonymous
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    Personally, I would not use "thousands" to mean "hundreds of thousands." – herisson Oct 06 '15 at 22:25
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    Where is your second quotation from? // Your final comment is not strictly accepted by everyone. – Edwin Ashworth Oct 06 '15 at 23:06
  • which last comment? – anonymous Oct 06 '15 at 23:23
  • There are at least two statements you made that I don't think everyone would accept: "Although using an apostrophe-S to make a number plural is somewhat common, it is incorrect" and " If you state "1000s", make sure you have at least 2 thousand, the minimum required for plural of one thousand to make it grammatically correct". See the discussions at the following questions: Plurals of acronyms, letters, numbers — use an apostrophe or not?... – herisson Oct 07 '15 at 00:29
  • ...and When does thousand turn into thousands?. – herisson Oct 07 '15 at 00:33
  • well it has to be more than 1 thousand so 2 thousand + can be considered Thousands or 1000s – anonymous Oct 07 '15 at 00:35
  • I would say that every sentence here is disputable, not to say tendentious. Since '1000' is not a word, it has no 'correct' plural. Since it is pronounced 'one thousand', "1000's" is clearly 'one thousands', which is not a 'grammatically correct' form however often advertisements use it. Your second quotation is incoherent: common usage in America makes one form correct, but common usage elsewhere makes another form incorrect?!. And you can't drag dictionary.com into your corner when it never mentions 1000's. – Tim Lymington Oct 07 '15 at 08:34