RE. Some insisted “a few” meant three and only three. a few: countable nouns (bottles of milk, jars of marmalade, dollars, minutes etc.) Your question can’t be answered definitively, because “few” is ambiguous as far as its specific number, and “couple” can also be inexact. How to use few in a sentence. Quite a few means a fairly large number of something. Probably not more than that, though. It means at least three, and it means the person is not very serious about giving you an answer at … I agree that it is relative. Oddly, I've been having this same conversation over the past few weeks with my 9 year old, who is very literal-minded and having trouble grappling with words representing relative concepts. Ask MetaFilter is a question and answer site that covers nearly any question on earth, where members help each other solve problems. It's grammatical usage indicates that the number isn't necessarily defined or known (otherwise you'd just say "three", wouldn't you?). My step father is German and my girlfriend is Spanish, and though they both speak English better than I do, this is one of the questions that they have both asked me. She said I could have a few pieces and when I went for more than 3, I was over my limit. Interactive exercises for esl Ask MetaFilter is where thousands of life's little questions are answered. A few is an indeterminate small number. Quantity words. When I asked my mom for cookies when I was a little kid, "a few" always meant three. A couple is what I use to say 3 or 4 when I don't want to lie but still want the other person to think it was less. A: When someone asks you to lend him “a few dollars,” he could mean almost any amount. A couple is two (possibly 2 and a half, if we're talking about cookies.) When you say a few days, you are not sure how many. So, usually three, but maybe more. The thing about 'a few' being always three in the mind of some people is that they should accept there are more than a few people who don't think that. a little: non countable nouns (milk, marmalade, money, time etc.) How many is a few? In 2013, Comcast expanded its reach into entertainment by purchasing NBC and pretty much all of its properties. defines this sense of the word as “an indefinite small number” or “few.”. But you can change that. One thousand seven hundred and forty-five. Enter your email address to subscribe to the blog by email. Oh and to play devil's advocate, if few is loosely defined then what's the meaning of the phrase "more than a few" as in "Oh yeah, I've been there more than a few times..."? There is no much difference between the two phrases. What “a few” means to me might be different than what “a few” means to you. But many standard dictionaries and usage guides do. I think that Ms. 71 would be rather put out at illustrious institutions such as...oh, the BMV, for example. And when he says he’ll repay you in “a couple of days,” don’t mark a date on your calendar. Few means 'not many but some,' as in 'The train leaves in a few minutes,' and several denotes more than the words couple and few do but implies lesser than the word many does. 8 Answers. "Just give me a couple pepperoni," I said when it was my turn to order. It is usually used in a relative sense, meaning more than what is expected in a usual scenario. Sometimes it can mean an indeterminate number in that range, where neither the speaker nor the listener knows how many exactly (in these cases it is more realistic for it to mean more than 5), or it can mean a specific number that the speaker does know that they do not feel it is necessarly to communicate exactly to the listener. The Few that Winston Churchill referred to was a small portion of the ‘many’, the population of England, and possibly the world. More example sentences. And the noun was used shortly thereafter to mean two animals of the opposite sex (c. 1325) and a brace holding two hounds together (c. 1340). I think a few is three or four, never two or five. So, "a few" cannot be one, but it can be as low as two. (Ms. 71 tapping foot after 5 minutes). In case you’re interested, we once wrote about another inexact term, “several.” Like “few” and “couple,” you can’t pin “several” down. determiner. A value between 3-6, but is often used informally to describe any value above 1. Learn more. A few is three, unless you're talking about people, in which case, it could be as many as six. Now on to “couple,” which is not nearly as flexible as “few.” The OED indicates that “couple” was first recorded as a verb around 1225, when it meant “to conjoin in thought or speech.”. Some is more than a couple/few/several, and many is more than that. However, there are a few … I believe it to be more than 2 but less than 10. posted by horsemuth at 9:23 PM on June 29, 2007. many for countable, much for uncountable in (?). Does that make any sense at all? An answer key is included and it prints well in grayscale. We mentioned above that “couple” is generally followed by “of.” If you’d like to read more about this, we had a blog item a while back about whether the “of” is really necessary. I too am from SoCal, but a couple is only two to me. To me (a Minnesotan, if that has any bearing), a couple, a few, and several are for the most part interchangeable. Adoption fees may be more economical than buying a pet outright, and many shelters cover initial health exams, along with spaying or neutering (procedures that can cost an … Ms. 71 thinks it to be three exactly. ‘few thought to challenge these assumptions’. Well, sort of. Learn more. All posts copyright their original authors. Although three-fourths of the American Heritage Usage Panel found “a couple books” unacceptable, a fifth of the panel said it was OK in informal speech and writing. Up to 400 milligrams (mg) of caffeine a day appears to be safe for most healthy adults. A couple = 2 Several= 7 or more (sev-eral—sev-en) A few = the range between several and a few Garner’s Modern American Usage (3rd ed.) Two = a couple, five = some. 1 decade ago. a) much b) lot of c) little 7) He doesn`t have a big salary. An example: "Quite a few people are irked by chatfilter.". People who take too much ibuprofen may experience side effects that range from stomach pain to severe bleeding in the digestive tract. the word "few" is relative. That's a really interesting point made above about it possibly varying regionally. Few definition is - not many persons or things. In other words, it all depends. Ben has few friends in London. My argument about a "couple" being 2 OR 3 is thus : I think it is highly dependent on context. A few may be two, but a couple may NEVER BE THREE. (as pronoun; functioning as plural) a few … For instance, a few people over for a party (3-7 perhaps) is different from only a few people showing up at a conference (30 instead of 300). The answer is that there is no hard-and-fast answer. Few - little: quantifiers exercises. To keep it simple, though, it is synonymous with a large amount/number, a huge amount/number and … A couple is two (possibly 2 and a half, if we're talking about cookies.) I instinctively think three, but I know it's one of those words you need to be flexible with on occasion. A lot, much, many, little, few... Los quantifiers nos ayudan a expresar una cantidad indeterminada de algo . a small number of; hardly any few men are so cruel. What does she think "I had a few words with him" means? 2 Used to emphasize how small a number of people or things is. The short answer: as much as $5,000 a year. A: When someone asks you to lend him “a few dollars,” he could mean almost any amount. says that while “couple” has traditionally meant a pair, “in some uses, the precise number is vague. We don’t normally use them in affirmative sentences. Probably because they sounded like the same word. few definition: 1. some, or a small number of something: 2. used in expressions such as "quite a few" to mean…. Using many, much, a few, a little TEST online Measurements with Noncount Nouns Units of measure are used with noncount nouns to express a specific quantity. Favorite Answer. If it were not indeterminate, a sane person would give the exact number that they know and say "I'm inviting three people over" or "I am going to have four beers.". Q: I grew up believing that a “few” was three and a “couple” was two. It's not, so few is indefinite. I don't think there's an exact answer to it. If few referred to a specific amount, it'd probably be in the dictionary. Clearly this argument can get heated and this is why we can no longer discuss this at home. When do we use a little/little and when a few/few? Well, if you're talking about something outside the context of a larger group, it's at least three, maybe as many as five. a few means 2 or 3, it is non-descript but no more than that. i once saw a sign in a fast food restaurant about how catsup should be distributed based on terminology. For example: a glass of, a cup of, a piece of. Ah the good old days. I remember seeing a study quoted somewhere that found that it rapidly becomes harder to several items at a time in groups of more than five. For example, 13 Responses to “Few vs. Several” Brad K. on May 10, 2008 1:26 pm Few usually seems to mean a ration, a small portion, rather than a distinct number. few meaning: 1. some, or a small number of something: 2. used in expressions such as "quite a few" to mean…. Thus the sentence She lives only a couple of miles away implies not only that the distance is short but that its exact measure is unimportant. The posting cites this comment from American Heritage: “The of in the phrase a couple of is often dropped in speech, but this omission is usually considered a mistake, especially in formal contexts.”. More than several/a few/a couple of you have asked. Download full-size image from Pinterest . By the late 14th century, “couple” (generally followed by “of”) was being used to mean two of anything. When I looked up a quantity for the word “few” the first hit I encountered stated this: “While many people would agree that ‘few’ means three or more, the actual dictionary definition of ‘few’ is, ‘not many but more than one.’ So a ‘few’ cannot be one, but it … But I just looked them up and found no mention of three in the definitions of “few,” and “more than two” as a meaning of “couple.” Can you give these words a firm meaning? They also provide cable television and phone services to residential and business customers. The short answer: as much as $5,000 a year. Don't forget that if "few" is preceded by "quite a," you have to multiply by at least three -- possibly four or more, but at least three. But thanks for raising an interesting subject. I think it can mean anything more than two (so three, although in some cases it can even mean just two) up through five, most of the time. Your question can’t be answered definitively, because “few” is ambiguous as far as its specific number, and “couple” can also be inexact. 2. Panasonic TC-P55VT50: $2,680 PPSI: $2.08. some is much more vague, and depends on the application. a) a few b) much c) many 6) We have a _____ time, we don`t have to hurry. Buy our books at a local store, Amazon.com, or Barnes&Noble.com. Plasma! It depends on the items in question, surely? a couple is fixed. Grammar chart – much, many, a lot of, a little, a few, no, any, none . A few is a random variable, normally distributed with a mean of 3 and a standard deviation of about 0.55 thereabouts. Many-many-one, many-many-two, many-many-three. describes  the definition “a few; several” as “informal,” but goes on to say this: “Modern critics have sometimes maintained that a couple of is too inexact to be appropriate in formal writing. The noun “couple” originally meant “a pair” or “a union of two.” It was derived from the Latin copula, meaning a tie or a connection, and was first recorded in writing about 1300 in reference to a man and woman united in marriage. If you say a … Or maybe more. Relatively speaking it is exactly about three. if mrs. 71 were right, there would only be three u.s. marines in the entire corps. But to make a long story short, “few” has never been restricted to meaning three. When I was a kid, I used to think that several=seven. In the context of 'a few drinks' it would be surprising if it was ever three. He has a few … Choose much, many, a lot of, a little, a few, etc. For me, a couple = 2 or 3, a few = 4 or 5, several = 6 or more. How much is a few? (as pronoun; functioning as plural) many are called but few are chosen. I think it really depends on the usage on where the person grew up. From the beginning, it has meant “not many” or “amounting to a small number.”, When “few” appears without a preceding word like “a” or “some,” the OED says, it implies the opposite of “many.”, But in phrases like “a few” or “some few,” according to the dictionary, it implies the opposite of “none at all.”, As examples of the two usages, the OED cites these constructions: “few, or perhaps none,” and “a few, or perhaps many.”, There are several idiomatic variations on this theme. To me "a few" is more than 2 ("a couple"), but a small amount. Let's say there are 30 people in a park. I am with jamaro. "A few" is never less than three, but could sometimes be a couple more. Comcast is one of the few remaining Internet service providers in the United States. Relevance. A few, a little, fewer, less.Free grammar exercises online. "Many are called, but three are chosen?" Likewise, those of us who accept 'few' to be a relative term will just have to accept that when others hear 'few' they think 'three'. I usually respond that I would be happy to explain in a few minutes, but that I have a couple things I need to finish up first. it's utterly relative. I disagree and think the term is relative. The latter can occur within a few … If you’re looking to find ways to care for a cat that better fit your budget, here are a few simple tips: Think Adoption First. Let’s begin with “few.” It was first seen in written English back as the 800s, according to citations in the Oxford English Dictionary. That standard has served me well since. For example: I’ve got little money left in my account. “A good few” means “a fair number,” and “quite a few” and “not a few” both mean “a considerable number.”. When some one says I'll give you an answer in a few weeks , does that mean 2, 3 or more? Join 6,470 readers in helping fund MetaFilter. We use much/many in negative sentences and questions.We use many before plural countable nouns and much before uncountable nouns. In (a): some water = an unspecific quantity. "Just wait right over there for a few minutes while we make your new driver's license." So a few is just in the neighborhood of 3 to 5, not entirely specific. I created it for reviewing as this is the end of the school year for us here in Greece. A few raspberries could be anything up to ten, a few monkeys could be between three and six. I believe it to be more than 2 but less than 10. Examples for few / little. The whole point of terms like "a couple" and "a few" is that they're inexact. Likewise, growing up in Southern California I always thought that a few was 2-5. If you are an old subscriber and not getting posts, please subscribe again. 11 is the outer limit of few for items (especially cookies.). En esta lección vamos a aprender: Explicación de cómo usar los CUANTIFICADORES EN INGLES. But the inexactitude of a couple of may serve a useful purpose, suggesting that the writer is indifferent to the precise number of items involved. View synonyms. ‘he was one one of the few who survived’. In (b): a glass of water = a specific quantity. Once you invite seven or more people over, it's a bunch. At my confusion, he elaborated, "She might have given you three.". Answer Save. And when he says he’ll repay you in “a couple of days,” don’t mark a date on your calendar. He doesn`t earn _____ a) a little b) many c) much 8) There`s only _____ cheese left in the fridge. ‘very few of … If it always meant "exactly three", why would one ever say "a few" instead of "three"? Basic Words: Sometimes words may not have an exact definition, and one has to use context to understand what they mean. Relative. Some said it meant three or four. Łatwo zapamiętać to w ten sposób: few ma trzy literki, więc bardzo mało, a few ma cztery literki - wciąż mało, ale jednak więcej niż tylko trzy. A simple worksheet on the quantifiers much, many, (a) little, (a) few and a lot (of) with a grammar explanation and five exercises of graded complexity ranging from easy to more difficult for practise. If I catch 10 sardines it is a few, if I cook and eat 10 sardines it is a lot. The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (4th ed.)

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