Talk:a lot
I have corrected a lot "adverb" in French:it is -assez- not -boucoup-, boucoup is a Paraphrase NOT an adverb for exmpl. -Il y a beaucoup de gents- "There are a lot of people": There are some of errors in this site expecially about languages like Spanish (often there are some ten(!) words corresponding to one meaning in english, now it would be impossible to speak a language that has ten words for one meaning- you would have to learn ten times the vocabulary of a normal language with one or at most two words for a meaning!) and French. For the other languages I know German is very good but it is wrong the pronunciation "info box" because pronunciation is linked with a dialect so one would espect the name of the dialect in pronunciation "info box" but it is often written Austria, (Austrian has NOT its own dialect, you should write Bavarian that is a dialect). Speaking about Italian it is well made with very high precision. Neapolitan is also well made but often lacks pronunciation which is the most important thing in a dictionary. This is not a critique is just to better this project of wiki(one of the best in wikia according to precision and affidability). Someday I am going to sign up also. — This unsigned comment was added by 87.3.159.55 (talk) at 22:17, 13 October 2012.
- You're wrong actually. Apart from spelling beaucoup wrong, it is an adverb, as in "je l'aime beaucoup". Apparently neither your written French or your written English is very good, based purely on what you've written above. Mglovesfun (talk) 22:39, 13 October 2012 (UTC)
- Yes I make many errors writing in the discussion page because I write very quickly without caring a lot of the form, it not vocabulary page it's -en passent- discussion page. About beaucoup as a paraphrase adverb in the sense you write it' OK, but it means anyway not "a lot" (the section we are discussing about) in this sentence you wrote, but "anyway" "in all instances": when used to express a considerable quantity it is only used before names. I have not studied for very long time french but I have studied beaucoup part. That's what I think — This unsigned comment was added by 87.3.159.55 (talk) at 23:25, 13 October 2012.
- You should try to write correctly even on discussion pages. When you write "very quickly without caring a lot of the form" it makes it difficult for others to understand what you are saying. --WikiTiki89 (talk) 23:50, 13 October 2012 (UTC)
- Debatably we should have beaucoup de as a separate entry from beaucoup. Probably not, as it would split the entry 'beaucoup' and make it harder for readers by not having all the entries in one place. Mglovesfun (talk) 11:00, 14 October 2012 (UTC)
- You should try to write correctly even on discussion pages. When you write "very quickly without caring a lot of the form" it makes it difficult for others to understand what you are saying. --WikiTiki89 (talk) 23:50, 13 October 2012 (UTC)
- Yes I make many errors writing in the discussion page because I write very quickly without caring a lot of the form, it not vocabulary page it's -en passent- discussion page. About beaucoup as a paraphrase adverb in the sense you write it' OK, but it means anyway not "a lot" (the section we are discussing about) in this sentence you wrote, but "anyway" "in all instances": when used to express a considerable quantity it is only used before names. I have not studied for very long time french but I have studied beaucoup part. That's what I think — This unsigned comment was added by 87.3.159.55 (talk) at 23:25, 13 October 2012.
Name or adverb[edit]
"a lot" is an adverb, it's not a name otherwise the entry should not contain the article 'a' the entries for english names do not need the article, for example the article "shame" has "shame" written in the entry not "a shame". — This unsigned comment was added by Aufels (talk • contribs) at 21:28, 8 November 2012.
adverb 'very' : a lot different[edit]
Although not standard, this use should be added. Thanks in advance. --Backinstadiums (talk) 08:31, 26 March 2017 (UTC)
Word Type[edit]
Shouldn't the noun heading be corrected to pronoun? Also, a lot of redirects here, but there's no entry for it (it should be a determiner, I believe). --Mocha2007 (talk) 15:50, 8 August 2019 (UTC)
a lot- Etymology[edit]
My wild guess is that "a lot" originally referred to a literal lot (unit of acreage) and gradually became a metaphor. For instance:
A: How many couches do you have?
B: I have a whole lot full of them.
Later
C: How many couches does B have?
A: A lot full of them!
C: That sounds like a lot of couches! --Geographyinitiative (talk) 17:39, 9 September 2020 (UTC)
What meaning is used in Some staff are staying on but a lot are leaving --Backinstadiums (talk) 15:42, 27 October 2020 (UTC)
- @SemperBlotto: Currently we have two options, which one? namely Pronoun: 1. A large amount. 2. Many things, much --Backinstadiums (talk) 15:49, 27 October 2020 (UTC)
- Probably both - in your specific example "many people". SemperBlotto (talk) 15:51, 27 October 2020 (UTC)