Why does ‘few’ sometimes mean a lot “There’s quite a few ducks in the pond.” and sometimes a little “There’s only a few ducks in the pond.”?
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Yeah, context plays a powerful role in shaping language. Another example is ‘soon’. “I’m in the shower, i’ll be there soon”. “I think the housing market is going to calm down soon”. For a word that is supposed to describe a length of time, its meaning fluctuates a lot.
because it has” quite a” before which adds significance. It’s used like “Quite a lot, quite a number of, it was quite a show” so because it is used in front and sets the precedent it means more like “quite a few more than I expected”
English professor here. Idiomatic phrases don’t always need to make sense, but in this case it mostly does.
The addition of “quite” promotes “few” to the maximum extent. In other words, there are as many “few” (ducks) as possible.
It’s a stylistic choice rather than a logical quantity, so it’s more for show than accounting,
Also, English is weird.
“Quite the ___” puts a very positive connatation on the word: he has quite the reputation, that’s quite the performance, I’m quite sure they’re right.
“Only ___” is a diminutive, emphasizing the lack or smallness of something: it’s only a toy, he’s only a waiter, she’s only 5’2”.
“Few” is commonly used to mean a group of things, despite the dictionary definition. “Quite a few” emphasizes the number, but in a positive way, meaning many. “Only a few” emphasizes the number in a negative way, to focus on its smallness and insignificance.
It could be that the pond isnt supposed to have ducks in it all or that there should be many more… either way the actual amount (literally a few, lets say 3) isnt what’s being remarked upon but rather how odd it is to see that amount because there are usually zero/100
Because it’s not just “few”‘ It’s a phrase – “quite a few”. Phrases often times have a different meaning than the words it is made out of. “Quite a something” is used to amplify or emphasize a certain quality. “That’s quite a car” = that seems like a good car.
Also, “few” is a bit tricky in English because there’s even a subtle difference between “few” and “a few”.
“There are a few ducks in that pond” – You’re emphasizing that there are some ducks.
“There are few ducks in that pond” – You’re emphasizing that there are not many ducks.
“There’s quite a few ducks in the pond” – a fairly large number of ducks.
“Quite” in a phrase to me is usually used as a sort of understatement, a bit of sarcasm; saying “There’s quite a few ducks in the pond” would really mean, “Um, there’s a lot more ducks than you would call ‘a few’ in the pond.”
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