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#2 (permalink) Sat Aug 19, 2006 6:23 am 'Few', 'A few', 'Many' etc! |
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. C'mon, Tom-- context! Is this a restaurant? A boardroom? A living room? . _________________ Native English teacher at Mister Micawber's |
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Mister Micawber Language Coach
Joined: 17 Jul 2005 Posts: 13015
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#3 (permalink) Sat Aug 19, 2006 8:07 am 'Few', 'A few', 'Many' etc! |
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Dear MM
Do the (meanings of )the given words depend on the places they are in? :shock:
1- few 2-a few tables 3-a good few tables 4-quite a few 5-several 6- many 7- a good many
Tom |
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Tom I'm a Communicator ;-)
Joined: 30 May 2006 Posts: 2103
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#4 (permalink) Sat Aug 19, 2006 8:19 am Numbers |
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Hi Tom,
You asked:
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1- There were few tables in the room. 2- There were a few tables in the room. 3- There were a good few tables in the room. 4- There were quite a fewtables in the room. 5- There were several tables in the room. 6- There were many tables in the room. 7- There were a good many tables in the room. 8- There were a whole lot tables in the room. 9- There were lotstables in the room. |
how many these referred to. That is an impossible question. How can you quantify when you don't know what the situation is?
I must correct the last two: a whole lot of / lots of tables
Alan _________________ English as a Second Language You can read my ESL story Present Simple |
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Alan Co-founder

Joined: 27 Sep 2003 Posts: 13891 Location: UK
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#5 (permalink) Sat Aug 19, 2006 13:25 pm 'Few', 'A few', 'Many' etc! |
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| Do the (meanings of )the given words depend on the places they are in? |
Of course they do, Tom-- quite a few tables in a restaurant = 60; quite a few tables in my living room = 3. . _________________ Native English teacher at Mister Micawber's |
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Mister Micawber Language Coach
Joined: 17 Jul 2005 Posts: 13015
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#6 (permalink) Sat Aug 19, 2006 14:02 pm 'Few', 'A few', 'Many' etc! |
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. I agree with the gents, Tom. It depends very much on the context (and to some extent, also on personal opinion). . _________________ "Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power." ~ Abraham Lincoln |
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Yankee I'm a Communicator ;-)

Joined: 16 Apr 2006 Posts: 8316 Location: USA
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