About 'worth of'

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About 'worth of'
Message from stephen163 posted on 07-01-2010 at 14:53:46 (D | E | F)
Hello,
We can say:"thousands of pounds worth of diamond",
why not say:"diamond worth of thousands of pounds"?
How to analyse the word "worth of"?
Thank you for your answers.

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Edited by lucile83 on 07-01-2010 15:04

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Re: About 'worth of' from gerondif, posted on 07-01-2010 at 15:34:09 (D | E)
Hello,

There are two different structures with "worth":

1) They stole thousands of pounds worth of diamonds (probably in the plural) You quantify the amount, you add "worth of" and you name the object:
Can I have five pounds worth of petrol ?
(I want to spend five pounds on petrol)

2) This car is worth £2,000 .
This car is worth two thousand pounds (without of) which means:
This car has a value of £2,000, this car is sold at a price of £2,000.

You can use this expression in other contexts:

Her love is worth a lot to me. (I value her love a lot)
It was worth the trip.(I don't regret it)
This film is not worth seeing, it doesn't deserve the attention
I gave it.

"worthy of" also exists with a similar meaning:
She is not worthy of your love, she doesn't deserve your love.

By the way, you could have said :

They stole diamonds worth thousands of pounds.

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