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Taka Posted 18 years ago
Grammar

filled with/full of

0 01span01i00(1) That room was full of children.02br
00(2) That room was filled with children.02i02br
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01span00Would you native speakers perceive the two above as exactly the same? Or would you detect any difference between them?02span0-
  

Top answer

0 This may be a personal opinion not shared by others, but "full of" sounds like a way to say "there were a lot of kids there" while "filled with" sounds like every available space had a child sitting/standing there. 0-

— BarbaraPA

  • 0 This may be a personal opinion not shared by others, but "full of" sounds like a way to say "there were a lot of kids there" while "filled with" sounds like every available space had a child sitting/standing there.
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19 Answers
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0 This may be a personal opinion not shared by others, but "full of" sounds like a way to say "there were a lot of kids there" while "filled with" sounds like every available space had a child sitting/standing there. 0-
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0I remember I asked this question before... oh! I asked in a different context - the literal meaning of filled with vs full of.02br
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00The box was filled with/full of toys. (I was told filled with suggests involvement of an agent or something like that while full of doesn't) 02br
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00I don't think the explanation can be applied here since the usage
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0 That's an interesting point, GG.02br
00Now, do they equally sound natural? Or is one more natural than the other? 0-
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0If I'm not mistaken, they are both OK. It's a matter of style and of preference.0-
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0Would you also agree with N2g that the expressions themselves are both equally natural, GG? 0-
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0Ummm.... You know when you think about somethign too much you lose track of what you would say normally.02br
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00Let's say I open the door at the locker room at the gym just as swimming lessons for the little kids are getting over. To my eyes, they are just EVERYWHERE! "Egad! I'll just shower at home. This place is filled with children!" That sounds natural enough in that
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0So it seems like it's not just a matter of style, but there IS some difference you perceive in them and you use both expressions as the situation demands. Interesting.02br
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00Oh, by the way, GG, why 'all but one IS A KID', not 'all but one ARE KIDS'?0-
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0Oops. Good catch. It should be "all but one are kids" because it's "all are kids but one." 02br
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00It's so easy to focus on the last noun used.02br
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00 Again, remember I said it could be just my personal preference. Others may say "filled with" and "full of" completely interchangeably.0-
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0But you think nobody would say one of them is unnatural in the sentences in question (the sentences about the room in the first post) and we should use the other, right? 0-
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0I think that a native English speaker would 01b00not02b00 say "That's ridiculous. No one would ever say that," for either one. They are both okay.0-
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