The word “some” indicates a quantity of something, but it doesn’t strongly signal any particular quantity or any particular feeling that the actual quantity is important. There is very little difference, with respect to quantity, between “There are people in the dining room” and “There are some people in the dining room.” Saying “There are some people” is just saying the opposite of “there are no people.” The sense of quantity with “no” (or “not any”) is simply negative; the sense of quantity with “some” is simply positive.
When we use words like “a lot” or “a few,” we are giving some indication as to the quantity of something. We understand that the quantity is large when we say “a lot” and that it is fairly small when we say “a few.” We can use these expressions to answer questions with “How many?” or “How much?” But because “some” doesn’t give much indication of the actual number or amount of what it is referring to, it is not often used in answering such questions. If it is used in such situations, it sounds as if the speaker can’t really decide how to describe the quantity. Still, when we need to interpret “some” as a particular quantity, we assume that it is somewhere between a little bit and a lot. If someone asks us to put some flour in a bowl, we’d probably put in what we thought would be a moderate amount rather than what seems like a little or a lot.
Examples:
Be careful; there’s some water on the floor.
We have some milk, but we don’t have any orange juice.
There are some movies that just don’t interest me at all. [A proportion of movies just don’t interest me.]
How many people came? Well, some, but not many.
How many people came? Well, some, but only a few.
Just interested in words? Looking for clear dictionary definitions and examples? Join our users and subscribers at wordsmyth.net or kids.wordsmyth.net.