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Lcchang Posted 20 years ago
Vocabulary

a couple of

If I say " a couple of girls are in the park", will that mean "two girls" or "some" girls are in the park? Please advsie.

LC
  

Top answer

Price> <I only had a couple of drinks> ---------

— Marius Hancu

  • Price> <I only had a couple of drinks> ---------
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13 Answers
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at least two (but may be more than two)
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- a couple of : two or an indefinite small number of : FEW<a couple of days ago> <for a couple of
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So a couple of somethig does not exactly mean two, does it? Please advsie.

BTW, when we say two people are a couple, must they be married to each other? Or, a couple can mean just a boy and a girl together?

LC
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a couple of .....usually means some, not necessary means two.

A couple can also means two who are in a relationship.
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Yes, a couple can be any two people in a relationship.
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Hi all,

I am a little bewildered;

Is it " a couple of girls are in the park"

or "a couple of girls is in the park"??
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It's a reasonable question, because "a couple" is singular. However, as it means (about) two, it can be considered as a number and the subject is "girls", which is plural. The English language is in fact not very clear about singular and plural and you can find a lot of bewildering examples.
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Hello Mythical Lady,

Your question is:

Is it "a couple of girls are in the park"

or "a couple of girls is in the park"?

It should be "a couple of girls are in the park" because here 'couple' refers to two (British English) or a few (American English). For example, a couple of police officers were standing at the door.
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Mythical Lady wrote: I am a little bewildered;

Is it " a couple of girls are in the park"

or "a couple of girls is in the park"??

It should be "a couple of girls are in the park" because a couple means two (Br Eng) or a few (US Eng).

For example, a couple of police officers have arrived.

This is similar to 'a number of'. You should say "A
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Hi Yoong Liat,

In English. there are some things, I find, senseless!!

Or how can you jusify that we deal with"a number of..." as if it is a plural subject while we deal with "the number of..." as a singular subject?? (at least that what I've studied) "a number of" means several what about "the number of" doesn't it have the same sense??

Thanks anyway..
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This one is confusing because usually when you have "a [ x ] of [ y ]" we are taught to ignore the "of [ y ]" part and use [ x ] to determine whether it's singular or plural.

A pile of pennies is on the table.

The number of students attending this school is increasing.

But you would have no problem with "Three girls are coming to the party" or
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