Talk:a few

a few
We have an entry for few. We are not about to have entries for colocations with "a", right? --Connel MacKenzie 20:33, 11 January 2007 (UTC)


 * few and a few have almost opposite connotations. That, and the fact that "a" does not normally precede plural nouns. This one is idiomatic. --Ptcamn 00:34, 12 January 2007 (UTC)
 * Sorry, say again? Opposite connotations of what?  Certainly not each other.  Do you mean few vs. few?  --Connel MacKenzie 00:40, 14 January 2007 (UTC)
 * Actually, I may have been hasty: "a" does not normally precede plural nouns. I'm not sure it is being used as a plural noun in this sense, but that is a good reason to keep it.  (Can't say I agree that it is idiomatic, however.)  --Connel MacKenzie 00:42, 14 January 2007 (UTC)


 * We're not about to delete a lot, are we? ;-) -- Visviva 04:47, 12 January 2007 (UTC)


 * I agree that it’s important to have entries such as a few, a lot, burn down, etc. It’s a good idea to have a link to them from the base pages, few, lot, burn. —Stephen 15:53, 12 January 2007 (UTC)
 * Hmmm. I don't know about this one, though.  It seems to be covered pretty thoroughly in few.  The rationale (admittedly weak) for a lot was as the referent of the misspelling alot.  --Connel MacKenzie 00:40, 14 January 2007 (UTC)
 * I'm on the fence about this one, but consider the difference between "I have few things I need to say" with "I have a few things I need to say." There is a difference here, and it seems to be somewhat idiomatic to use "a few" like this. --EncycloPetey 01:02, 14 January 2007 (UTC)


 * We should have a few colocations with "a", but we shouldn't have a many of them. Kappa 17:58, 14 January 2007 (UTC)

I would like to Delete this. The ‘idiomatic’ difference EncycloPetey refers to is just the difference between using few and few: it's dealt with perfectly well on the page. Widsith 12:26, 17 January 2007 (UTC)
 * Keep; It's idiomatic, not because this one is a functional noun, but because the vast majority of substantive adjectives can't be used with "a". You can say "a few", but you can't say "a red", "a good", "a big", or "a hungry". This is an instance quite different from any expected pattern. In part, an idiom is an expression that can't be predcited from the usual meanings and functions of words.  This is one such case when the unit must be learned as a unit.  --EncycloPetey 01:14, 18 January 2007 (UTC)

Keep: The CGEL list it as an individual item and explains why.--BrettR 00:39, 23 January 2007 (UTC)
 * Keep; its meaning is not discernible from its parts. Angr 17:52, 4 February 2007 (UTC)


 * Keep. The few in "a few" is idiomatic; saying that "few" is a pronoun seems, IMHO, to be an over-generalization. --Kjoonlee 08:44, 15 April 2007 (UTC)

Kept. DAVilla 17:30, 5 May 2007 (UTC)

2. Quite a significant or large amount
2. Quite a significant or large amount. An ironic usage of Definition 1. Regrets? Oh, I've had a few, honey. https://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/a+few --Backinstadiums (talk) 16:54, 30 July 2020 (UTC)

Plural Noun
[a + ~] a small number or amount: ''Did everyone go home? No, a few were still waiting.'' The fortunate few who managed to escape sickness this winter https://www.wordreference.com/definition/few --Backinstadiums (talk) 16:12, 30 August 2020 (UTC)
 * See a few. — T AKASUGI Shinji (talk) 00:10, 31 August 2020 (UTC)

not a few (determiner)
DETERMINER not a few, quite a few ⇒ (informal) several --Backinstadiums (talk) 10:04, 18 February 2021 (UTC)
 * Is a few used in this idiom? --Backinstadiums (talk) 10:13, 18 February 2021 (UTC)

"A few" + a number : unremarkable quantity
A couple of is different from a few in that it does not imply that the relevant amount is relatively small. One might say admiringly of an exceptional center fielder that he can throw the ball a couple of hundred feet, but not, except ironically, a few hundred feet, which would suggest that such a throw was unremarkable. http://odict.net/couple/ Similarly contradictory is the idiom not a few, which actually means "not few" FEW (determiner) 8. not a few (informal) ⇒ quite a few, several. --Backinstadiums (talk) 10:06, 1 August 2021 (UTC)