Hi:

Someone told me that if I use the word "some" before a plural noun, I mean at least 6. For example: if I said "some people" in a group of 6, I mean all of them.

Is this true?? Is this a real grammatical rule? I've never heard of it before. (Then again, I never paid too much attention in classes. ) If it's true, how should I describe 3~4 in 6~9? It somehow doesn't seem right to use "most" or "many", does it?

"Several" maybe?

My dictionary backs up the way I've always used it -- of a certain unspecified number (empahsis mine). I've certainly never heard of any rule regarding "some" referring to any given number.

Surely "Some of my fingers got sticky," cannot mean at least 6? And "Some of the people in the crowd were becoming impatient," seems to me to imply far more than 6.

Hi,

I'm not good in grammar, but I found this pages there more clear if you read them.

Plural Noun Forms
http://webster.commnet.edu/grammar/plurals.htm


Possessive 's:
's to a singular noun
(') to a plural noun

http://grammar.englishclub.com/nouns-possessive.htm


Determiners: Some and Any
http://grammar.englishclub.com/adjectives-determiners-some-any.htm


Uncountable Nouns:
http://grammar.englishclub.com/nouns-un-countable_2.htm

Index Guide to Grammar and Writing and Principles of Composition.
http://webster.commnet.edu/grammar/index2.htm

MAF
Good luck!

I'm with Rivka, some isn't used refer to any specific number of objects in group.

I shall now quote from my grammar bible (which is Swan's 'Practical English Usage' - I like it because it has pretty colours in it)...

"Some is a determiner. If often suggests an indefinite quantity or number, and is used to when it is not important to say exactly how much/many we are thinking of."

I don't always agree with books, but I do on this I can't really think of a situation where some could mean 6...

Helga
(The difference between some/any being one of the many English grammar points that she can teach )

I'm with Rivka too. I've never heard of this one before and, as her examples make clear, it doesn't seem to logically hold water.

LabRat

Thanks for the links and the reassurance.

So, say there's a list on which 6 or 7 books are mentioned. If I say I've read "some" books on that list, a sensible person will not mistake it for the statement: I've read all of them, right?


Again, thanks for your help.

If someone said that to me, I would figure, at least 2 or 3, not more than 4 (or maybe 5).

Now, as to whether I qualify as a "sensible" person . . .

My LSAT (Law School Admissions Test) teacher told us that some means "at least one" and that it could mean up to all of the group. I don't know if this only applies to the test or to grammer in general, but I thought I'd throw it out there for consideration.

When I hear the word "some" in everyday conversation I usually think that it means a significant number of the group, probably not more than half. I don't know what that's worth, but I thought I'd throw that out there too.

~Anna