1) I was playing chess with Tom. The few people watching us seemed to understand what was going on.
2) I was playing chess with Tom. The small number of people watching us seemed to understand what was going on.

Do those mean:

a. I was playing chess with Tom. There were few people watching us. They seemed to understand what was going on.

or:

b. I was playing chess with Tom. There were a few people watching us. They seemed to understand what was going on.

I asked a similar question a few days ago.

--
Gratefully,
Navi

Lost in the Twilight Zone of the English language
Interested in structures on the margins of grammaticality
Obsessed with ambiguity

navi wrote:

> 1) I was playing chess with Tom. The few people watching us seemed to understand what was going on.
> 2) I was playing chess with Tom. The small number of people watching us seemed to understand what was going on.

> Do those mean:

> a. I was playing chess with Tom. There were few people watching us. They seemed to understand what was going on.

> or:

> b. I was playing chess with Tom. There were a few people watching us. They seemed to understand what was going on.

> I asked a similar question a few days ago.

In a, the point may be that there weren't many (as might have been expected?).
In, b, the point may be that there was more than one. That's the distinction
that you're asking about, right? Without context, I'd guess that 1 and 2 are a
little closer to a, though a situation where you'd expect more than a few people
to watch a chess game is pretty unusual. If you changed it to "I was playing
Nodirbek that round..." it would be different.

--
Jerry Friedman

jerryfriedman wrote:

> In a, the point may be that there weren't many (as might have been expected?).
> In, b, the point may be that there was more than one. That's the distinction
> that you're asking about, right? Without context, I'd guess that 1 and 2 are a
> little closer to a, though a situation where you'd expect more than a few people
> to watch a chess game is pretty unusual. If you changed it to "I was playing
> Nodirbek that round..." it would be different.

In "Queen Gambit", the last episode, she is walking in a park in Russia
where there is a row of chess tables and two players at every table. The
crowd gathering around them is mor than just a few people.

I belive that you can find similar setups in the USA, but I have
forgotten how many people were watching in the movies I have seen.

--
Bertel, Denmark

Thank you both very much, especially Jerry,

Jerry, as usual you have understood what I'm looking for! I sort of think that 'the few' corresponds, not to 'a few', but to 'few' and implies paucity. It implies some sort of insufficiency. To me, 'a small number' is just a statement of fact, although it could, and in most cases does, imply paucity, insufficiency, etc.

Gratefully,
Navi

PS. Jerry, you never cease to amaze me. You are very up-to-date on chess too!

On 2024-03-06 22:15:41 +0000, Bertel Lund Hansen said:

> jerryfriedman wrote:
>
>> In a, the point may be that there weren't many (as might have been expected?).
>> In, b, the point may be that there was more than one. That's the distinction
>> that you're asking about, right? Without context, I'd guess that 1 and 2 are a
>> little closer to a, though a situation where you'd expect more than a
>> few people
>> to watch a chess game is pretty unusual. If you changed it to "I was playing
>> Nodirbek that round..." it would be different.
>
> In "Queen Gambit", the last episode, she is walking in a park in Russia
> where there is a row of chess tables and two players at every table.

It happened to me once. When I was 18 a little boy of about ten
challenged me to a game in a park in Moscow. He beat me easily.

> The
> crowd gathering around them is mor than just a few people.
>
> I belive that you can find similar setups in the USA, but I have
> forgotten how many people were watching in the movies I have seen.

--
Athel cb

jerryfriedman <jerry.friedman99@gmail.com> wrote:

> navi wrote:
>
> > 1) I was playing chess with Tom. The few people watching us seemed to
> > understand what was going on.
> > 2) I was playing chess with Tom. The small number of people watching us
> > seemed to understand what was going on.
>
> > Do those mean:
>
> > a. I was playing chess with Tom. There were few people watching us. They
> > seemed to understand what was going on.
>
> > or:
>
> > b. I was playing chess with Tom. There were a few people watching us.
> They seemed to understand what was going on.
>
> > I asked a similar question a few days ago.
>
> In a, the point may be that there weren't many (as might have been
> expected?). In, b, the point may be that there was more than one. That's
> the distinction that you're asking about, right? Without context, I'd
> guess that 1 and 2 are a little closer to a, though a situation where
> you'd expect more than a few people to watch a chess game is pretty
> unusual. If you changed it to "I was playing Nodirbek that round..." it
> would be different.

Ah, yes. He needs to learn how to tiebreak yet...

Jan

Bertel Lund Hansen wrote:

> jerryfriedman wrote:

>> In a, the point may be that there weren't many (as might have been expected?).
>> In, b, the point may be that there was more than one. That's the distinction
>> that you're asking about, right? Without context, I'd guess that 1 and 2 are a
>> little closer to a, though a situation where you'd expect more than a few people
>> to watch a chess game is pretty unusual. If you changed it to "I was playing
>> Nodirbek that round..." it would be different.

> In "Queen Gambit", the last episode, she is walking in a park in Russia
> where there is a row of chess tables and two players at every table. The
> crowd gathering around them is mor than just a few people.

> I belive that you can find similar setups in the USA, but I have
> forgotten how many people were watching in the movies I have seen.

I'm sure it happens, more in Russia than the U.S., but as I said, I think
it would be pretty unusual.

--
Jerry Friedman