Several vs Alot - What's the difference?
several | alot |
Separate, distinct; particular.
*, I.42:
*, II.i.4.2:
* {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-01, volume=407, issue=8838
, page=13 (Technology Quarterly), magazine=(The Economist)
, title= * Dryden
* Alexander Pope
A number of different; various. (Now merged into later senses, below)
* 1610 , , act 3 sc.1
*:.
* Francis Bacon
* Dryden
Consisting of a number more than two or three but not very many; diverse.
* 1784 , William Jones, The Description and Use of a New Portable Orrery, &c. ,
* {{quote-book, year=1963, author=(Margery Allingham), title=(The China Governess)
, chapter=14 * 2004 , The Guardian , 6 November:
* {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-08, volume=407, issue=8839, page=55, magazine=(The Economist)
, title= By itself; severally.
* Robynson (More's Utopia)
(obsolete) An area of land in private ownership (as opposed to common land).
Each particular taken singly; an item; a detail; an individual. (rfex)
(archaic) An enclosed or separate place; enclosure. (rfex)
* 2000 , Teaching Secondary English, ed. Daniel Sheridan. [in a tenth-grade student's paper]
* 2003 , Matt Janacone, Three by the Sea [http://print.google.com/print?id=CesAE2xl68QC&pg=PA107&lpg=PA107&sig=X8TjIfaBBBesXWW1E38K-BUtUPU]
* 2005 , Aphrodite Jones, Cruel Sacrifice [From the suicidal patient's own writing.] [http://print.google.com/print?id=KtlMQCtBzygC&pg=PA248&lpg=PA248&sig=2mA_bCMZr0l0dCLfhRWe4cBdmd4]
alot]
* 2004 , The Cambridge Guide to English Usage'' also compares ''alot'' to ''awhile.'' It states ''alot'' to be “still regarded as nonstandard” and notes 50 appearances in the British National Corpus, “almost entirely from three sources: e-mail, TV autocue data, and TV newscripts.” It suggests that some usages of ''alot'' in typewritten use are to be considered merely typos of the standard ''a lot though its appearance in handwriting and typescript is “more significant, as the shadow of things to come.” [http://print.google.com/print?id=UA5syoe1kc0C&pg=PA30&lpg=PA30&sig=rtyA7J19FLKXuJ-65S78fDEnON8]
As adverbs the difference between several and alot
is that several is by itself; severally while alot is an alternative spelling of lang=en.As nouns the difference between several and alot
is that several is an area of land in private ownership (as opposed to common land) while alot is an alternative spelling of lang=en.As a determiner several
is separate, distinct; particular.several
English
Alternative forms
* severall (obsolete)Determiner
(en determiner)- He had a religion apart: a God severall unto himselfe, whom his subjects might no waies adore.
- So one thing may be good and bad to several parties, upon diverse occasions.
Ideas coming down the track, passage=A “moving platform” scheme
- Each several ship a victory did gain.
- Each might his several province well command, / Would all but stoop to what they understand.
- habits and faculties, several , and to be distinguished
- Four several armies to the field are led.
preface:
- The favourable reception the Orrery has met with from Per?ons of the fir?t di?tinction, and from Gentlemen and Ladies in general, has induced me to add to it ?everal new improvements in order to give it a degree of Perfection; and di?tingui?h it from others ; which by Piracy, or Imitation, may be introduced to the Public.
citation, passage=Just under the ceiling there were three lunette windows, heavily barred and blacked out in the normal way by centuries of grime. Their bases were on a level with the pavement outside, a narrow way which was several feet lower than the road behind the house.}}
- Several people were killed and around 150 injured after a high-speed train hit a car on a level crossing and derailed tonight.
Obama goes troll-hunting, passage=The solitary, lumbering trolls of Scandinavian mythology would sometimes be turned to stone by exposure to sunlight. Barack Obama is hoping that several measures announced on June 4th will have a similarly paralysing effect on their modern incarnation, the patent troll.}}
Derived terms
* several states * severallySee also
* severAdverb
(-)- Every kind of thing is laid up several in barns or storehouses.
Noun
(en noun)Statistics
*alot
English
Adverb
(-)Noun
(-)- There was alot' of sex discrimination in the 60’s. For one thing there was no sports for girls and in ' alot of schools the female teachers were not allowed to get married or they could be fired. [http://print.google.com/print?id=ejtdcf-taQkC&pg=PA346&lpg=PA346&sig=t0Sp87KqxsH-UGYklzl72NMUz1Q]
- It was alot' of lumber, '''alot''' of condos, and Joe did not know '''alot''' about either of them, only that it was '''alot''' of money; he hated to throw his money into something he did not know ' alot about.
- She talked about death: “My philosophy on life is it could be alot' better. Like I would’ve never gotten into this mess if I wouldn’t have tried to commit suicide. Actually I was just trying to make myself sick. But then again it could be '''''alot worse! [...]”
Usage notes
This spelling of "a lot" is frequent in informal writing but not generally accepted by arbiters of English usage. Others view it as a legitimate s. * 1993 , The Columbia Guide to Standard American English'' calls ''alot “substandard” and notes that it is “increasingly found in Informal correspondence and student writing” and “has as yet received no sanction in print except on the op-ed and sports pages.”[http://books.google.com/books?id=L2ChiO2yEZ0C&q=alot* 1996 , The American Heritage Book of English Usage'' states that “''alot'' is still considered an error in print” but notes that standard words have formed by fusion of the article with a noun, such as ''another'' and ''awhile,'' and suggests the possibility that ''alot may, like them, eventually enter standard usage. [http://www.bartleby.com/64/C003/0200.html] * 2004 , Jack Lynch Guide to Grammar and Style (entry dated 2004) flatly states this to be a two-word expression. [http://andromeda.rutgers.edu/~jlynch/Writing/a.html