Room descriptions often make the player character out to be a bit of a savant, able to count whole stacks of items at a glance: "You see 27 paper clips here."

We can adjust this behavior to our liking, though, with the printing a number... activity, as follows:

"Prolegomena"

The Editor's Office is a room. The desk is a supporter in the Editor's Office.

A red pencil is a kind of thing. 12 red pencils are on the desk.

A letter is a kind of thing. 12 letters are on the desk. Understand "correspondence" as a letter.

Rule for printing the plural name of a letter:
    if the listing group size is greater than 7, say "correspondence";
    otherwise say "letters".

Rule for printing a number of something (called the target) when the listing group size is greater than 7:
    say "[one of]some [or]various [or]an assortment of [at random]";
    carry out the printing the plural name activity with the target.

This general rule can of course be overridden by more specific ones; for instance, if we want to take the opportunity to comment on the viewpoint character's appetite for instruments of correction:

Rule for printing a number of red pencils (called the target) when the listing group size is greater than 10:
    carry out the printing the plural name activity with the target;
    say " in nearly-sufficient quantity".

Test me with "get two letters / look / get a pencil / i / get pencil / g / g / look / i / get all / i".