several
part of speech
determiner, pronoun, adjective
meaning for a pupil
1) Several means more than two, but not very many: several friends. tree →
2) As a pronoun, several means a few of a group: Several of the cakes were eaten. tree →
sense in the lessons
more than one equal group («When there are several equal groups, we multiply»); «several» is not a number, so the problem must tell how many elsewhere; in everyday life «several times», «several days»
examples
- When there are several equal groups, we multiply. tree →
- Several children share 12 cookies equally. tree →
- Lily bought several packs of pens. tree →
- I have read this book several times. tree →
- Several birds sat on the wire. tree →
- It rained for several days. tree →
- Several of my friends have pets. tree →
- We waited several minutes for the bus. tree →
- After several days they reached an island. tree →
note
«several equal groups» points to multiplying or dividing. Trap: «several» is not a number; the problem must tell how many elsewhere. «several» goes with plural nouns: several apples.
In the corpora
- A job interview is a meeting where an employer asks questions to decide whom to hire; several people usually compete for one job.
- Quitting smoking is one of the best things a person can do for their health; many people need several tries.
- Pop and rock concerts are loud and crowded; big festivals run for several days with many stages, and many fans wear earplugs.
- Tigers love water and swim well; Sundarbans tigers swim between islands in the mangroves of India and Bangladesh and can swim several kilometres.
- Eagles see details several times more sharply than people, and an eagle's eyes are about as big as a human's.
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «several» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.