コーラが1びん以上飲まれた。

English Translation

More than one bottle of coke was consumed.

Incorrect translation for four reasons.

First, “a bottle of” should be 1本(いっぽん), not 1びん. We count bottles with 本 so as do 鉛筆 (pencils) and 道路 (roads). The shape of all those objects are like a long line.

Second, we rarely spell びん in Hiragana. It should be 瓶 in Kanji.

Third, we don’t describe this kind of information in a passive form by saying 飲まれた, which could even suggest that the owner of coke is the victim.

Fourth, 1以上 means “one or more than one”, not “more than one”. 以上 includes the reference point and the above. “More than one” should be 2以上. If you want to exclude the reference point, use 超えて(こえて)or 超(ちょう)instead of 以上.

I don’t even know when I can use the English sentence “More than one bottle of coke was consumed” in the real world. Particularly, the use of “consumed” and “more than one” bugs me. The only situation I may use is in a murder investigation in a forensic autopsy lab.

Here are my alternative example sentences:

日本では年間、10億本超のコーラが消費される。(にほんではねんかん、じゅうおくほんちょうのコーラがしょうひされる)= More than one billion bottles of coke are consumed per year in Japan.

被害者は死の直前にコーラを1本以上、摂取した。(ひがいしゃはしのちょくぜんにコーラをいっぽんいじょう、せっしゅした)= The victim consumed one or more than one bottles of coke at the last minute of his death.

Consumed in the first sentence should be translated as 消費される. It’s a business term. We don’t usually use 消費する for a small amount for a personal use.

The second sentence uses 摂取する, which means “to take into one’s body” or “digest”. 摂取する is frequently used in medical, nutriology or forensic contexts.

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