Few/Several

Question

What English dialect is Kwiziq based on? My sociolect most definitely does not contain this silly "few is slightly less than several". Few is the opposite of many, it is not in a scale with several. Several means more than one, although usually 3 or more. I get that you are looking for a way to separate out the feel of scale in the French words, but it just doesn't work.

Answer

Hi Annie - this is definitely something that is down to personal interpretation so I'm not surprised that you don't find it quite matches your internal semantics. English is also far less precise than French. That said, there is a rough hierarchy to English quantities that works for many people.
There's an interesting write up here:
https://www.writerightwords.com/write-right-couple-few-some-several-many/ 
But, as I said, this isn't a law so it either fits with how you use the words, or not. Also I think "a few" is different to "few", which may help? For me, a few is definitely less than several. I guess it depends on the context as well though.

Answer

To me, a few represents a tighter restriction than several. If I said, "I have several of them.", it could mean a few or a bit more than a few.
-- Chris.

Answer

I am a native American English speaker. ‘Few’ and ‘several’ are the same to me. Equal to around 3. As a result, I am having a hard time ‘splitting the hairs’ between the two French words in this lesson!