What is the difference between several and a few

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Join Us. The owner of it will not be notified. Only the user who asked this question will see who disagreed with this answer. Read more comments. Deleted user. Some is a small quantity, and several is a large quantity. See a translation. An example would be, There are several drinks on the table but I can only carry some of them. These words are synonyms and can be used interchangeably when talking about quantity. Both refer to more than 1, but not many. These words are slightly different.

When attached to countable objects e. People usually say what feels right, and that varies with each person. If Have balls and 26 are white while the remaining are black then 26 is only a few. I grew up in the Boston, MA area and in that area a few was perhaps seven.

Of course in that area a cup of regular coffee came with sugar and cream already in it. You also worshed your cahh and paahked in Haaarvud Yahd, and rooted for the Redsawks. I know this is an older comment, but what else is regular coffee if not with cream and sugar?

Me , I drink my coffee black. Unless you are at a Starbucks and you order some concoction. Black is regular. I always considered black coffee to mean no sugar or cream until I had a customer order a black coffee and assume I knew that it would have sugar in it.

While that was not how I interpreted it I understood it if we are only talking about color. I love language variation. Fascinating although sometimes frustrating. There was no easy way to say that in the midwest.

A couple means two. A few means a small number. Leave it to the English to have several words all mean the same as a few but not less than a couple. I pulled out my trusty smart phone and we began to whittle down our disagreement.

Then, by a stroke of good fortune we came across your story. We want you to know that we have decided to accept your definitions due to the fell circumstances in which they were decided. To make this sentence more effective, it would read as thus: I saw a group of cats in an alley on the hunt for food.

The distinction in definitions appear to be related to the specific, region or locality you attended elementary school in. The words were taught this way.

A couple was 2. Several was considered a vague term with 4 to 8 being the accepted meaning. A dozen was It could be combined with couple, few, and several dozen to give a general estimate. Some and a group as well as a bunch or many could only be defined in the contest used with a bunch and many considered more. We all know a bubbler and not a fountain is the proper term for the fixture or unit, usually in a public area, you get a drink of water from.

Few seems to be relative to the size of the whole. As for several meaning existing apart makes sense as well.

I always think that few and several are not interchangeable, but it is only now that I learned about their proper use. I agree with Brad. I agree with Ali that a couple should be two. But if you look at its use, coupling things together can imply more than two. But usually coupling involves two at the actual time of coupling. More than two results in polycoupling. Guess I have been wrong for many years. In the future I will endeavor to stop using several and few, and be more patently specific.