7 ms·

Just to clarify, do you mean a few videos or many videos? Thanks

skrebbel 5y ago
Not the GP but they mean very many videos, ie the vast, vast majority.
thaumasiotes 5y ago
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/quite_a_few https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/quite_a_few The opposite of "quite a few" would be "quite few".
- pmg102 5y ago
  This is not correct. "Quite few" is not correct English. EDIT: on reading some of the linked sources I realise I was wrong about this.
  - thaumasiotes 5y ago
    > "Quite few" is not correct English. I take it you don't speak English yourself? You can apply "quite" to any adjective, including "few".
    - gknoy 5y ago
      While one could, it's not an idiom I (native speaker) have ever heard. I've heard "very few", but never "quite few", and I can see why hearing the latter might cause the listener/reader to mistakenly auto-correct it as "quite _a_ few".
      - weaksauce 5y ago
        I am a native English speaker and yes quite few is a thing that I have heard and said.
      - evilduck 5y ago
        But we don't only speak in idioms. "Quite" and "few" are some the least ambiguous words you can come across in English, "quite few" should be clear so long as you don't add words and substitute in your own meaning as the reader. I think the idiom "quite a few" is arguably worse to use in a diverse audience since it means the opposite of "a few" and is one of the only times "quite a" is used to negate the meaning of what follows.
        BigJono 5y ago
        Using 'quite few' to mean the opposite of 'quite a few' as a non-native speaker is a terrible idea. It doesn't matter how correct it is, a large portion of native speakers are going to assume you mean 'quite a few' and have misheard or mispronounced it. It's not like either phrase is wanting for totally unambiguous synonyms.
    - pmg102 5y ago
      Perhaps so. But it certainly sounds distinctly odd to me. Fairly confident I have never used or heard the construction myself. (Native speaker, 43, southern UK.)
      - dylan604 5y ago
      - Cederfjard 5y ago
        Non-idiomatic is not the same as incorrect. There’s no semantic or syntactic issue with the phrase.
      - TheRealNGenius 5y ago
        there are quite few ducks where I live
    - autoexec 5y ago
      It works, but it's awkward. Same with "quite many" which doesn't get as much use
  - tomrod 5y ago
    Hi! English speaker here. It's not common, but it is perfectly acceptable. Here is some data to back this up: https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=quite+few%2C+quite+a+few&year_start=1800&year_end=2019&corpus=26&smoothing=3&direct_url=t1%3B%2Cquite%20few%3B%2Cc0%3B.t1%3B%2Cquite%20a%20few%3B%2Cc0 https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=quite+few%2C+q... Thanks!
mdoms 5y ago
You know what he means. Stop it.
- skrebbel 5y ago
  Don't assume. Not everybody is a native English speaker and able to pick up nuances such as when "quite a few" means "super many, lol" and when it means "a few" or "a bit more than a few". (EDIT: TIL from the sibling comments that it always means "super many, lol" which surprised me) (I'm not a native English speaker)

Not the GP but they mean very many videos, ie the vast, vast majority.

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/quite_a_few https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/quite_a_few The opposite of "quite a few" would be "quite few".

pmg102 5y ago
This is not correct. "Quite few" is not correct English. EDIT: on reading some of the linked sources I realise I was wrong about this.
- thaumasiotes 5y ago
  > "Quite few" is not correct English. I take it you don't speak English yourself? You can apply "quite" to any adjective, including "few".
  - gknoy 5y ago
    While one could, it's not an idiom I (native speaker) have ever heard. I've heard "very few", but never "quite few", and I can see why hearing the latter might cause the listener/reader to mistakenly auto-correct it as "quite _a_ few".
    - weaksauce 5y ago
      I am a native English speaker and yes quite few is a thing that I have heard and said.
    - evilduck 5y ago
      But we don't only speak in idioms. "Quite" and "few" are some the least ambiguous words you can come across in English, "quite few" should be clear so long as you don't add words and substitute in your own meaning as the reader. I think the idiom "quite a few" is arguably worse to use in a diverse audience since it means the opposite of "a few" and is one of the only times "quite a" is used to negate the meaning of what follows.
      - BigJono 5y ago
        Using 'quite few' to mean the opposite of 'quite a few' as a non-native speaker is a terrible idea. It doesn't matter how correct it is, a large portion of native speakers are going to assume you mean 'quite a few' and have misheard or mispronounced it. It's not like either phrase is wanting for totally unambiguous synonyms.
  - pmg102 5y ago
    Perhaps so. But it certainly sounds distinctly odd to me. Fairly confident I have never used or heard the construction myself. (Native speaker, 43, southern UK.)
    - dylan604 5y ago
    - Cederfjard 5y ago
      Non-idiomatic is not the same as incorrect. There’s no semantic or syntactic issue with the phrase.
    - TheRealNGenius 5y ago
      there are quite few ducks where I live
  - autoexec 5y ago
    It works, but it's awkward. Same with "quite many" which doesn't get as much use
- tomrod 5y ago
  Hi! English speaker here. It's not common, but it is perfectly acceptable. Here is some data to back this up: https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=quite+few%2C+quite+a+few&year_start=1800&year_end=2019&corpus=26&smoothing=3&direct_url=t1%3B%2Cquite%20few%3B%2Cc0%3B.t1%3B%2Cquite%20a%20few%3B%2Cc0 https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=quite+few%2C+q... Thanks!

mdoms 5y ago

You know what he means. Stop it.

skrebbel 5y ago
Don't assume. Not everybody is a native English speaker and able to pick up nuances such as when "quite a few" means "super many, lol" and when it means "a few" or "a bit more than a few". (EDIT: TIL from the sibling comments that it always means "super many, lol" which surprised me) (I'm not a native English speaker)