mydiamond Posted October 4, 2012 Report Share Posted October 4, 2012 so when someone says "a couple of things", is he trying to say "two things" or "several things"? I know this is random (rather stupid actually LOL) but I'm up for another English competition soon and I need to learn as much as I can oh and is there any singular form of "symptoms"? If yes, how do you spell it? Thanks in advance Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BingBlaze n Skyla Posted October 4, 2012 Report Share Posted October 4, 2012 A couple here means two N singular of symptoms would just be symptom Sent from my ST18i using Forum Runner Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sutsibe Posted October 4, 2012 Report Share Posted October 4, 2012 Generally "a couple" is two, as Nix has stated. At least in the US, it's sometimes used more loosely and imprecisely, and could possibly be "two or three" - more equivalent to "a few"... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LittleLuka Posted October 4, 2012 Report Share Posted October 4, 2012 couple = two few = three generally i use the term "couple" very loosely though. like "i'll be ready in a couple of minutes." i don't literally mean 2 minutes. English can be confusing, even to me. lol we have too many slangs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mydiamond Posted October 4, 2012 Author Report Share Posted October 4, 2012 So the meaning of "a couple" is different in American and British english? that's quite confusing x) my english teacher used to say "english is crazy" LOL sometimes I think he's right Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LittleLuka Posted October 4, 2012 Report Share Posted October 4, 2012 So the meaning of "a couple" is different in American and British english? that's quite confusing x) my english teacher used to say "english is crazy" LOL sometimes I think he's right American English and British English is VERY different! the two cultures have many different slangs, pronunciations, and even words. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elyse Posted October 4, 2012 Report Share Posted October 4, 2012 Usually, over here in Canada...a couple usually means two. But, like the US, a 'couple' sometimes means 3 or 4. Heck, sometimes 'couple' is used instead of 'several' for 7! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Removed #5 Posted October 4, 2012 Report Share Posted October 4, 2012 Until I had been in Japan, I had always heard the Japanese was a hard language to learn - actually it's quite a simple language with a lot of possibilities. English - well, let's see there's British English, and American English ( which should include Canadian English but doesn't ), Canadian English, Australian English and New Zealand English - is that really English, I can't ever understand a word they say!? Then there's a classical 'Colony' English ( Hong Kong when it was a BCC, for example ). Of course, we can't forget that each of these has a slang that is more distinct to the parent culture than the accents which are unique to each ... With English being as prevalent as it is, I don't understand why it's so difficult for all you foreigners to learn .... << very tongue in cheek!! >> Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LittleLuka Posted October 4, 2012 Report Share Posted October 4, 2012 Until I had been in Japan, I had always heard the Japanese was a hard language to learn - actually it's quite a simple language with a lot of possibilities. English - well, let's see there's British English, and American English ( which should include Canadian English but doesn't ), Canadian English, Australian English and New Zealand English - is that really English, I can't ever understand a word they say!? Then there's a classical 'Colony' English ( Hong Kong when it was a BCC, for example ). Of course, we can't forget that each of these has a slang that is more distinct to the parent culture than the accents which are unique to each ... With English being as prevalent as it is, I don't understand why it's so difficult for all you foreigners to learn .... << very tongue in cheek!! >> good point! in regards to accents i'm pretty sure i sound quite different than someone from wisconsin. i have a little twang to my voice and i speak slower. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.