# Is several more or less than a few?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-several-more-or-less-than-a-few/835845>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [June 21, 2019, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-several-more-or-less-than-a-few/835845 "2019-06-21T14:22:23Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 15\
**Page:** 2

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\
**Post date:** [June 21, 2019, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-several-more-or-less-than-a-few/835845/21 "2019-06-21T20:18:07Z")

</div>

I’d say the difference lies in the meaning in context more than the number. Several is a positive amount when talking about something you want there to be multiple items of, and a negative amount when talking about something negative, that is, it amplifies the amount. A few is the opposite.

So:

Several errors = there are errors, probably more than there should be  
Several awards = it won awards, probably more than average

A few errors = there are errors, but possibly less than average, or not important ones  
A few awards = it won awards, but less than average

(Unless people are being unassumingly modest or very polite, in which case a few can mean the same as several).

Then there’s “few,” without “a”. That always deamplifies the amount.

Few errors = not many errors compared to expectations  
Few awards = not many awards compared to expectations

IMO, anyway.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![2Bits](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/2/e95f7d/32.png) [@2Bits](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/2Bits)\
**Post date:** [June 21, 2019, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-several-more-or-less-than-a-few/835845/22 "2019-06-21T20:43:19Z")

</div>

> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#):
>
> In pencils:
> 
> A couple is 2  
> A few is 3  
> Several is 4-5  
> A bunch is 6-10  
> A buttload is two hands full, more than you would ever need  
> A shitload is a 50-100  
> A ton is a carton of several hundred  
> A shit ton is several cartons  
> A boatload is a pickup truck full of cartons  
> A metric shit-ton is a semi full of cartons

Shouldn’t “many” be in there before “several?”  
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![EllisDee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellisdee/32/4531_2.png) [@EllisDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EllisDee)\
**Post date:** [June 21, 2019, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-several-more-or-less-than-a-few/835845/23 "2019-06-21T20:47:49Z")

</div>

> [@TruCelt](#):
>
> But can you imagine yourself saying “There are just several errors?”
> 
> It doesn’t work. “Just a few” works because a few is less than several.

It doesn’t work because “several” isn’t a noun; it’s always an adjective. The reason you can say “Just a few” is because “few” can be either an adjective or a noun.

Using few as an adjective is equally unworkable: “There are just few errors.”

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\
**Post date:** [June 21, 2019, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-several-more-or-less-than-a-few/835845/24 "2019-06-21T20:50:30Z")

</div>

> [@2Bits](#):
>
> Shouldn’t “many” be in there before “several?”

In the subject of pencils, I would say “many” was at least 10ish, but it should be enough for everyone there, but not a lot of spares.

“There are many pencils available” means you don’t have to worry they’ll run out.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eyebrows_0f_doom/32/3119_2.png) [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)\
**Post date:** [June 21, 2019, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-several-more-or-less-than-a-few/835845/25 "2019-06-21T21:33:14Z")

</div>

> [@StarvingButStrong](#):
>
> Huh. Nobody agrees with me? To me, ‘several’ is like 3 or 4, and a few is at least five. Not that I’ve ever had anyone lay that out as a rule, but that’s what I thought. ☹

No. No that’s backwards. A few and several can overlap, but several is always a bit more. A few = 3-4, several = 4-6

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![markn\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)\
**Post date:** [June 21, 2019, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-several-more-or-less-than-a-few/835845/26 "2019-06-21T21:42:19Z")

</div>

> [@EllisDee](#):
>
> It doesn’t work because “several” isn’t a noun; it’s always an adjective. The reason you can say “Just a few” is because “few” can be either an adjective or a noun.
> 
> Using few as an adjective is equally unworkable: “There are just few errors.”

Right, it’s a grammatical issue, not a semantic one. I can say “There are just a thousand errors” but it doesn’t mean “a thousand” is smaller than “several”.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![begbert2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/begbert2/32/3357_2.png) [@begbert2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/begbert2)\
**Post date:** [June 21, 2019, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-several-more-or-less-than-a-few/835845/27 "2019-06-21T21:43:58Z")

</div>

Few implies that the amount is small. “We were few in number” is specifically highlighting the fact that you had way less people than you ought to have.

Several lacks that implication, and in fact I’ve always interpreted it to imply that the amount is notable. If I ask, “were there any problems”, and the person says “several”, that implies to me that the person thinks that there were more problems then there ought to be. If they answered “a few,” I would take that to mean that they think the number of problems is too small to really be noteworthy.  
ETA: Oh, and “a few pencils” is three or four. For “get several pencils” I would scratch my head a bit, because people don’t really say that, and then I would probably grab a handful - if they’re asking for several there’s probably a whole room of people that are going to be using them.

“a” \< “a couple” \< a few \< “some” \< “several” = “a bunch” \< “a lot”

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Ann\_Hedonia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ann_hedonia/32/319_2.png) [@Ann\_Hedonia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ann_Hedonia)\
**Post date:** [June 21, 2019, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-several-more-or-less-than-a-few/835845/28 "2019-06-21T21:48:19Z")

</div>

For me, several means 3 or 4 and I want to maximize the number as in “I have done this several times successfully”.

And a few means 3 or 4 and I want to minimize the numbers “Yes, I made a few mistakes”.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\
**Post date:** [June 21, 2019, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-several-more-or-less-than-a-few/835845/29 "2019-06-21T23:45:29Z")

</div>

> [@begbert2](#):
>
> Few implies that the amount is small. “We were few in number” is specifically highlighting the fact that you had way less people than you ought to have.
> 
> Several lacks that implication, and in fact I’ve always interpreted it to imply that the amount is notable. If I ask, “were there any problems”, and the person says “several”, that implies to me that the person thinks that there were more problems then there ought to be. If they answered “a few,” I would take that to mean that they think the number of problems is too small to really be noteworthy.  
> ETA: Oh, and “a few pencils” is three or four. For “get several pencils” I would scratch my head a bit, because people don’t really say that, and then I would probably grab a handful - if they’re asking for several there’s probably a whole room of people that are going to be using them.
> 
> “a” \< “a couple” \< a few \< “some” \< “several” = “a bunch” \< “a lot”

Yeah, agreed. There is a fairly big difference which could matter in some contexts.

You can’t line the terms up with numbers next to them, because there’s more to it than that. “Get several pencils” is not something I could ever imagine a native speaker saying, because collocation is important in language. Until fairly recent history it was almost ignored because it was so difficult to analyse or teach, but this is where the internet comes to to fore. There are problems with that to an extent now, because an awful lot of native speakers post in English online, and it’s difficult to separate them out.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\
**Post date:** [June 22, 2019, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-several-more-or-less-than-a-few/835845/30 "2019-06-22T13:39:10Z")

</div>

> [@Ann\_Hedonia](#):
>
> For me, several means 3 or 4 and I want to maximize the number as in “I have done this several times successfully”.
> 
> And a few means 3 or 4 and I want to minimize the numbers “Yes, I made a few mistakes”.

Exactly. I had a few beers last night— or several, if you were to ask my wife.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![RobDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f07891/32.png) [@RobDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RobDog)\
**Post date:** [June 22, 2019, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-several-more-or-less-than-a-few/835845/31 "2019-06-22T13:45:11Z")

</div>

> [@SciFiSam](#):
>
> I’d say the difference lies in the meaning in context more than the number. Several is a positive amount when talking about something you want there to be multiple items of, and a negative amount when talking about something negative, that is, it amplifies the amount. A few is the opposite.
> 
> So:
> 
> Several errors = there are errors, probably more than there should be  
> Several awards = it won awards, probably more than average
> 
> A few errors = there are errors, but possibly less than average, or not important ones  
> A few awards = it won awards, but less than average
> 
> (Unless people are being unassumingly modest or very polite, in which case a few can mean the same as several).
> 
> Then there’s “few,” without “a”. That always deamplifies the amount.
> 
> Few errors = not many errors compared to expectations  
> Few awards = not many awards compared to expectations
> 
> IMO, anyway.

Totally in agreement with this. I mean, you’ve never heard the expression “several and far between”, right? 😛

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\
**Post date:** [June 22, 2019, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-several-more-or-less-than-a-few/835845/32 "2019-06-22T15:43:30Z")

</div>

Once I asked a donkey how many cups of oats he wanted. He lifted up his tail and said, “A ffffew.”

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![ioioio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ioioio/32/316_2.png) [@ioioio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ioioio)\
**Post date:** [June 23, 2019, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-several-more-or-less-than-a-few/835845/33 "2019-06-23T00:49:21Z")

</div>

How many dogs do you have?  
A few.

How many dogs do you have?  
Several.

In both cases, I would guess that the person has three or four dogs. However, the person could have ten dogs and say “a few” with sarcasm. “Several” is less likely to be used sarcastically.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\
**Post date:** [June 23, 2019, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-several-more-or-less-than-a-few/835845/34 "2019-06-23T01:22:51Z")

</div>

> [@SpoilerVirgin](#):
>
> As a young child, I made up a similar list for myself of indeterminate amounts, in which I had “a couple” listed as “four or five.”

Perhaps that was caused by the intro to [The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hBe0VCso0qs) where the lyric:

When a couple of guys who were up to no good,  
Started makin’ trouble in my neighborhood,

is accompanied by footage that indicates that the “couple of guys” is, in fact, five young fellows.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Ashtura](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ashtura/32/2963_2.png) [@Ashtura](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ashtura)\
**Post date:** [June 23, 2019, 7:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-several-more-or-less-than-a-few/835845/35 "2019-06-23T07:53:41Z")

</div>

If I ask for a few ketchup packets, I expect minimum 3. I would expect more of I asked for several, maybe a handful. A bunch or a lot are about the same to me, 2 handfuls

[Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-several-more-or-less-than-a-few/835845.md?page=1)