Re: Few vs. a few
| From: | J. 'Mach' Wust <j_mach_wust@...> |
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| Date: | Monday, October 29, 2007, 18:13 |
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On Mon, 29 Oct 2007 16:31:37 -0000, caeruleancentaur <caeruleancentaur@...>
wrote:
>I notice a difference in connotation in these two expressions. "A few
>people attended the meeting," means simply that there was a small
>number in attendance. "Few people attended the meeting" connotes a
>certain disappointment: "There were not as many people in attendance as
>we had expected."
I guess that's just an idiosynrasy of English. But sure, these quantifiers (called "indefinit
pronouns" in the odd German terminology) are interesting. For instance, you'd translate "a few
people" by "ein paar leute", litterally 'a pair (of) people'... ah well, that's not so strange to
English after all, since it fairly corresponds to "a couple of people".
>Or in any natlang you may know. I wonder of "Poca gente asistieron en
>la reunion" conveys both meanings.
I think it doesn't. It is possible to say "un poco de", but that seems only to be used with
inanimate things. Talking about "un poco de gente" sounds very markedly strange. The only
place where I'd expect such an expression would be in a cannibale cooking recipe... as if
talking about "one ounce of people".
---
grüess
mach
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