For native speakers of English...

mackerel · (#1 (**permalink**))

I'd like to ask the specific usage of the simple word 'some'. I'm re-studying English grammar at the moment, and I saw the following sentence in a grammar reference book:

'I've seen some good films recently.'

The book just says 'not "I've seen good films recently"'. Then I started to wonder how different they are, or we can't say 'I've seen good films recently' in any situation? etc. Could anyone possibly tell me the difference between them? I looked up some dictionaries but I couldn't find the answer.

auran · (#2 (**permalink**))

Quote:

Originally Posted by mackerel

I'd like to ask the specific usage of the simple word 'some'. I'm re-studying English grammar at the moment, and I saw the following sentence in a grammar reference book:

'I've seen some good films recently.'

The book just says 'not "I've seen good films recently"'. Then I started to wonder how different they are, or we can't say 'I've seen good films recently' in any situation? etc. Could anyone possibly tell me the difference between them? I looked up some dictionaries but I couldn't find the answer.

try to use the word "alot"

filiadragongurl · (#3 (**permalink**))

You can certainly say "I've seen good films recently" but it's very book-sounding... it feels like something's missing. I mean, most of the time if you're going to say something like that you're going to quantify how many. For example "I saw a good film recently" for one, "I've seen some good films recently" for a few, "I've seen a lot of good films recently" for a lot.

I guess the "some" here just makes it sound a little more normal for what your average person would say rather than what a textbook would say. It also helps to give the person you're saying it to an idea of how many films you've seen. I'm also guessing you would want to say different things based on the context of the conversation.

Anyway, point being you *can* say "I've seen good films recently" and have it be grammatically correct, but I don't think I would ever say that to anyone or write it. Does that help?

Yuna7780 · (#4 (**permalink**))

"Some" helps make what you're talking about more specific. It's usually used to say how many of whatever there is.
Grammatical number - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This gives a decent explanation.

Kajitsu · (#5 (**permalink**))

Quote:

Originally Posted by auran

try to use the word "alot"

"alot" is really "a lot." Don't get too confused.

kuronekoaus · (#6 (**permalink**))

To me 'some' is basically 'a number of' or 'a few'- perhaps it's used just to spice up the language with specifics.

Amnell · (#7 (**permalink**))

Wow, never thought of that....

Yeah, if you wanted to be technical, we just say it to quantify the direct object. Intuitively, we anglophones really like general details; if you say "I've seen good movies", the listener is stuck wondering how many. Like fliliadragongurl said, we feel like something is missing from the whole statement. "How many movies have you seen???"

Of course, you can change the meaning of the whole thing by placing the emphasis on certain words, but that'll be a subject for a whole different line of study.

mackerel · (#8 (**permalink**))

Thank you all for your help!! Now I get it completely at last...thanks a lot

Kajitsu · (#9 (**permalink**))

Yes... I remember when "normal" debated with "grammatically correct" in my life. I chose the latter on Christmas Eve, 2006. It has been with me ever since.

If you want to worry about "normal," go ahead and do so. I am just telling you what happened to me.

Kajitsu · (#10 (**permalink**))

I figured it out while I was away!

"I've seen good films recently" implies that you have seen only good films recently. "I've seen some good films recently" states that you have seen other qualities as well.