Maioria husu katak ema la uza nia liafuan ho preciza no akuratamente. Muitos komentáriu sira ne’e, hodi orienta katak ita mak tenke aplika uzu ho preciza (iha momentu ne’e ita fo nota ba uzu atual husi liafuan, maski uzu ne’e laos di’ak, loos, ka laiha ona… squishy).
Maibe ita sempre ajuda, tanba ne’e ita halo hodi responde ba komentáriu sira kona-ba liafuan barak ne’ebé ema husu tiha ona—couple, few, no several—no iha mai hanesan orientasaun uzu jeral ba ita nia liafuan.
História no Uzu ba “Couple”
Couple dala ruma hahu uza iha lian Ingles iha sékulu 13, wainhira refere ba ‘duas ema ne’ebé ligadu iha relasaun romántika. Liafuan ne’e husi Latin copula, ne’ebé signifika “ligasaun”.
Liafuan ne’e wainhira aplikadu ba grupu rua, maibé iha sékulu 1500, uza mós iha frase “a couple of” hodi refere ba numeru indefinidu maibé numeru ki’ik tanba ema ka buat ida:
Point you out a Scholemaster, who by your order, shall teache my sonne and yours, and for all the rest, I will provide, yea though they three do cost me a couple of hundred poundes by yeare…
— Roger Ascham, The scholemaster ca. 1586I shall here communicate to the World a couple of letters.
— Richard Steele, in The Spectator, 1711
Ami bele konfirma katak iha letra barak liu ne’ebé mak sei kontinua depois de asaertamentu ida hosi Steele.
Tuir loron, ne’ebe couple ne’e komeça kastigu, laiha nune’e labele hamatakelik. Couple agora komprende primariamente ba numeru rua wainhira uza hanesan liafuan nomos (“sira halo casamentu di’ak”), maibé mós uza hodi refere ba numeru ki’ik maibé laos definitivu ho “a couple of” (“Ha’u simu ona kopu kafé no agora ha’u labele tuir durmi”). Ita bele hatene katak numeru ki’ik ne’e relasiona ho relasaun nian: ami nia verifikasaun rihun hat ninia data hatama katak frase “a couple of years ago” uza hodi refere ba loron na’in tolu ka haat, maibé iha momentu ne’ebé ita bele fo verifikasaun ba data.
Konkluzon: couple uza ba numeru ki’ik liu tanba tempu boot, maibé normalmente numeru rua ka liu tanba ne’e.
Uzu no Istória ba “Few”
Few liafuan ida lama, hanesan husi sékulu 9. Liafuan ne’ebe la uza numeru definitivu, la’ós hanesan couple: husi tempu ne’ebé mak hahu, few uza hodi refere ba numeru ki’ik kompara ho seluk.
Katak katak importante ne’e mak “kompara”. Few kompara ho “many”, maibé sira nia numeru bele aumenta. Hanesan:
Man that is born of a woman is of few days and full of trouble.
— Job 14:1, King James Bible, 1611He arrived at the grotto a few days ago and asked his question, and since then he has been fasting in a holy cell while he waits for the answer.
— Zilpha Keatley Snyder, The Egypt Game, 1967
“Few days” iha ne’e refere ba numeru kompletamente diferente. King James Bible uza “few days” hodi hatene loron ema nia vida iha tempu kompara ho eternidade; eksertu husi The Egypt Game parece refere ba numeru loron ki’ik ne’ebé mak kontinua husi loron visita nian no mos narativa nian. Iha momentu ne’ebé ne’e, ita labele hatene katak few refere ba numeru entre, hatudu katak entre 3 no 10.
Hodi hamosu tan, few mos aparese iha idiom sira “not a few” no “quite a few”, ne’ebé refere ba “many”:
Maria then said some really ugly things about Baltasar and not a few about Tony, and when she finally resumed speaking in a normal tone of voice, she used some very crisp language…
— Phillip Parotti, Texas Review, Spring/Summer 2014
ka mós maior parte hosi klase sira ne’ebé aprezenta:
Quite a few phrases built around fact–the fact that, in point of fact, and the fact is, for example–are attacked in various handbooks as wordy deadwood.
—Merriam-Webster\’s Dictionary of English Usage, 1986
Konkluzon: few menus liu many no most, no bele aumenta tanba depende ba kompara katak numeru ki’ik ka liu hosi ne’ebe laos numeru rua. Hanesan ne’ebe hatudu.
Uzu no Istória ba “Several”
Several hahu uza iha lian Ingles iha sékulu 1400, maibé la’ós dezenvolve signifikadu numeru to’o sékulu 1500. (Several iha iniciu signifika “distintu ka hahu” iha lian Ingles.) Sim, signifikadu sira: primeiramente, several refere ba numeru ne’ebé mak liu husi ida.
They be but one heire, and yet severall persons.
— Edward Coke, _The first part of the institutes of the lawes of England _, 1628
Iha kontestu ne’e, several liu hosi
