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Poona(Xiaofeng) Xu
전문 강사What do you mean by "a couple of" ?
So it has been confusing me for so long but somehow I never really asked any English speaker, when you say "a couple of days" do you mean two days or a few days? Or either ?
2019년 9월 19일 오후 12:07
답변 · 7
1
A couple means two, but in reality "a couple of days ago" could be any time within the last week or two.
2019년 9월 19일
1
What does your dictionary give? The dictionaries that I checked were helpful.
Oxford Learners Dictionaries
https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/definition/english/couple_1?q=couple
couple determiner
BrE /ˈkʌpl/ ; NAmE /ˈkʌpl/
(North American English, informal)
used before plural nouns to mean ‘a small number of’ or ‘a few’
synonym a few
It's only a couple blocks away.
Collins Dictionary
https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/couple
quantifier
If you refer to a couple of people or things, you mean two or approximately two of them, although the exact number is not important or you are not sure of it.
Across the street from me there are a couple of police officers standing guard. [+ of]
I think the trouble will clear up in a couple of days. [+ of]
...a small town a couple of hundred miles from New York City. [+ of]
Couple is also a determiner in spoken American English, and before 'more' and 'less'.
...a couple weeks before the election.
I think I can play maybe for a couple more years.
Couple is also a pronoun.
I've got a couple that don't look too bad.
2019년 9월 19일
1
A “couple” is two but people in the US use this term loosely so it could be more than two. If it’s important, you should clarify if the person really means two.
2019년 9월 19일
1
To my understanding is something like three to four days
2019년 9월 19일
In the community where I grew up, "it's a couple of ..." always means "I think it's about two ..." - So it's a loose way to say "probably two, but it might be a little more".
We always use it to mean two. Why say "a couple" instead of "two"? Because I'm not 100% sure it's two, it could be three or possibly four. If we believe it's 3 or a little more, we say "a few".
I think this might not be used the same way in different communities.
2019년 9월 19일
아직도 답을 찾지 못하셨나요?
질문을 남겨보세요. 원어민이 도움을 줄 수 있을 거예요!
Poona(Xiaofeng) Xu
언어 구사 능력
중국어(북경어), 중국어(호키엔어), 영어, 에스토니아어, 스페인어, 태국
학습 언어
영어, 에스토니아어, 스페인어
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