Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums

[Dordi]

My teacher says 'some' means exactly the same as 'several'. According to my dictionary 'some' is a synonym to 'a few' and 'several' is the same as 'many', which would make 'several' and 'some' quite opposite words. Did my teacher make a mistake?
I would like to hear the correct way of using those words as my teacher thinks I have learned them wrong. Could someone please tell me what is the real difference between 'some' and 'several'?
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"Without the past there's no future..."

[bud]

The problem is that they are all words of approximation. 'Some' is the most subjective of the four. I think I would sometimes use it as a synonym for any of the other three, depending on the context or what "popped into my head." But I will say that I most often place 'some' at the lower end of the scale - along with 'few' and 'several.'

In short, there is not a definitive answer because of the subjectiveness.

Hope that helps.

[BMO]

Bud,

Would you explain along the line of countable and non-countable nouns? You can say some sugar but not several sugar, some clothes but not several clothes. I think some is to much what a few is to many, may I right?

May be this is the question he/she is asking.

Thanks.

bmo

[bud]

There is some truth to your answer, BMO, although it is not that simple. "Some" is one of those multi-purpose English words that can be tricky to explain. (At least for me, a nonprofessional teacher.) By the way, I have now looked it up at Cambridge Dictionraries Online, and see that the first definition is "unknown quantity," meaning not necessarily large or small. But the second definition is "large amount" and the seventh definition is "small amount." So the exact meaning in a particular usage depends on the sentence itself, context, intonation, etc.

For example, "Man, he has got some money!" would usually mean he is rich. "Some" would be stressed - and probably "man," too.

But...

Mike: Do you have any money on you?
Tony: Well, I have some... Why? (Most likely, Tony only has a little money. "Some" is probably stressed here, too.)

And...

Cathy found some money in the street. (The listener would have to ask a question to find out if it was a little or a lot. "Some" is not stressed here.)

So "some" is not constant, unlike "few," "several," "much" or "many."

You can use "some" with countable nouns, though, when it is not necessary to try to (somewhat) quantify them:

I'm having some problems answering this question.
There are some cars in the parking lot, so it's going to be more difficult to plow the snow.
There are some beers in the fridge if you want one.

Finally, "some" is used with uncountable nouns and often means a small or smallish quantity. It can also refer to an unknown/unspecified quantity, though, so other clues will give the intended meaning.

I now believe it is wrong to say definitively that "some" is the same as any of the possibilities mentioned. It seems to be in a slightly different class of adjectives.

Anyway, I hope that helps some, but fear not.



from Cambridge:

http://dictionary.cambridge.org/results.asp?searchword=some

some (UNKNOWN AMOUNT)
some (LARGE AMOUNT)
some (PARTICULAR THING)
some (ANNOYANCE)
some (EXCELLENT)
some (APPROXIMATELY)
some (SMALL AMOUNT)
take some beating
catch a few rays
cut sb some slack
one/some day
to a/some degree
to some extent
kick (some) ass
knock (some) sense into sb
have a/some say in sth
and then some
some ... or other
be (of) (any/some) use
You can't win 'em all.
catch/cop/get some z's

[BMO]

Thanks a lot. But it is going to take a while to understand all of these.

BMO

[ruth1e]

To make is easy...in normal conversation....some and several do mean exactly the same....
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Ruth Harnish

[mars_1208]

mars_1208
I think that,'some or 'serveral' is the same.But sometime they have a special place to use like som surgar,some clothes.But it has the same meaning in some situation like 'some time'=serveral time' .
I hope it helps