Single Couple Few Several Many All

[Nick Odell]

Are there accepted legal definitions for words which describe ranges
of numbers and do those definitions vary with context? I think I am
pretty confident about "Single" "Couple" and "All" but when does a
"few" become "several" or "several" become "many"?

I want to describe events or circumstances which occur more than once
but not necessarily in exactly the same way and where writing a
precise table or a list might not be practical or possible.

For example:
Each time I have visited A&E I have had to wait a few/several/many
hours to be seen.
There were a few/several/many weeks last year when I did no shopping
at all.
About two hundred people attended each meeting but a few/several/many
became bored and left before the main speaker took the stage.

And should "some" be in that list of numerical descriptors or is it
just too vague?

Thanks,

Nick

[Roland Perry]

Post by Nick Odell
Are there accepted legal definitions for words which describe ranges
of numbers and do those definitions vary with context? I think I am
pretty confident about "Single" "Couple" and "All" but when does a
"few" become "several" or "several" become "many"?
I want to describe events or circumstances which occur more than once
but not necessarily in exactly the same way and where writing a
precise table or a list might not be practical or possible.
Each time I have visited A&E I have had to wait a few/several/many
hours to be seen.

It's reported in the news today that some(sic) are now waiting 50hrs.

Post by Nick Odell
There were a few/several/many weeks last year when I did no shopping
at all.
About two hundred people attended each meeting but a few/several/many
became bored and left before the main speaker took the stage.
And should "some" be in that list of numerical descriptors or is it
just too vague?

It may depend whether you are trying to play-up, or play-down the
outliers. And the context is everything.

[Nick Odell]

Post by Roland Perry

Post by Nick Odell
Are there accepted legal definitions for words which describe ranges
of numbers and do those definitions vary with context? I think I am
pretty confident about "Single" "Couple" and "All" but when does a
"few" become "several" or "several" become "many"?
I want to describe events or circumstances which occur more than once
but not necessarily in exactly the same way and where writing a
precise table or a list might not be practical or possible.
Each time I have visited A&E I have had to wait a few/several/many
hours to be seen.

It's reported in the news today that some(sic) are now waiting 50hrs.

Post by Nick Odell
There were a few/several/many weeks last year when I did no shopping
at all.
About two hundred people attended each meeting but a few/several/many
became bored and left before the main speaker took the stage.
And should "some" be in that list of numerical descriptors or is it
just too vague?

It may depend whether you are trying to play-up, or play-down the
outliers.

Ah, but unlike the hypothetical accountant who asks their client,
"what would you like it to add up to?" I was wondering if there is any
recognised precision in general groupings of numbers such that if I
were to use a term about a series of events the description of an
individual event could not be pulled out and challenged as misleading.

Post by Roland Perry
And the context is everything.

Really? Single is uncontroversial and precise. Couple and All are too.
Is the precision completely lost in the middle part of the sequence or
are there ranges of numbers which are recognised as accurately
described by one but not another of those terms?

Nick

[Roland Perry]

Post by Nick Odell

Post by Roland Perry

Post by Nick Odell
About two hundred people attended each meeting but a few/several/many
became bored and left before the main speaker took the stage.
And should "some" be in that list of numerical descriptors or is it
just too vague?

It may depend whether you are trying to play-up, or play-down the
outliers.

Ah, but unlike the hypothetical accountant who asks their client,
"what would you like it to add up to?" I was wondering if there is any
recognised precision in general groupings of numbers such that if I
were to use a term about a series of events the description of an
individual event could not be pulled out and challenged as misleading.

And what would the adverse consequences of such a challenge be?

Post by Nick Odell

Post by Roland Perry
And the context is everything.

Really? Single is uncontroversial and precise. Couple and All are too.

I disagree. In many contexts "a couple of" can mean anything from 2-5.
In other words, more than one, but not many(sic). I use it that way
often when I describe something has happening "a couple of weeks ago". I
don't usually mean precisely two, rather it was more than one, but could
have been three or four.

Post by Nick Odell
Is the precision completely lost in the middle part of the sequence or
are there ranges of numbers which are recognised as accurately
described by one but not another of those terms?

I'm not sure I've ever seen a definitive vocabulary, and of course
there's other words like "half" which depending on context could also be
"roughly 40-60%"