I met Tina at the zoo several days ago.

[Alice Chu]

Please tell me the difference between “several days ago” and “a few days ago”. How many days ago could they probably refer to?

1. I met Tina at the zoo several days ago.
2. I replied to Tom’s email a few days ago.

 

[Rover_KE]

I can't help feeling you have similar expressions in Chinese, Alice. The indeterminate number of days will be the same in any language,

 

[emsr2d2]

How many days ago could they [STRIKE]probably[/STRIKE] refer to?

I'm glad you asked how many days they could refer to, rather than how many they do refer to. Even so, there's no real definition. As Rover said, it's an indeterminate number of days. The only thing I would say is that neither of them refers to yesterday or to a day that's more than a week ago.

 

[Tarheel]

You seem to want to get specificity out of a sentence that is not meant to be specific. Perhaps the person just doesn't remember exactly when the event occurred and is perfectly happy with getting it close.

 

[Tdol]

I think several might be the longer time in this context..

 

[Alice Chu]

[FONT=&quot]They could refer to anunspecific time between two days ago and seven days ago. Is my understandingcorrect?[/FONT]

 

[emsr2d2]

They could refer to an space here unspecific time between two days ago and seven days ago. Is my understanding space here correct?

Well, seeing as you just paraphrased exactly what I told you in post 2, it would be odd for me to say no, wouldn't it?! That's roughly what I'd say though I take Tdol's point that "several" comes across as perhaps a little bit longer. Let's face it - it really doesn't matter, does it? If the speaker doesn't want to say, or can't remember, exactly when something happened, that's up to them. If the listener really wants to clarify, it's up to them to ask.

 

[Tdol]

You're trying to put precision on things that are deliberately imprecise. Several is often associated with numbers around seven, but a few days ago is likely to be somewhere around two or three, while a few years ago could be a bigger number. There is no exact definition for these. An alcoholic's definition of a few drinks may differ from someone who doesn't drink much, but both may use the term.

 

[jutfrank]

I've always said that the word several has a sense of 'a significant number' (or as I prefer, 'not an insignificant number'). So if I say I met Tina at the zoo several days ago, I'm emphasising the distance between now and then. On the other hand, a few emphasises an insignificance of number. This is one reason why we often modify it to 'just a few' and 'only a few'.

This aspect of meaning is similar also to the difference between 'few' and 'a few'.

 

[emsr2d2]

I agree with all of the above but the simple fact is that there is no agreed/accepted precise number you can apply to any of these terms. If precision is required, the speaker would have to fulfil that requirement and say "I met Tina at the zoo three days ago", or "I met Tina at the zoo last Thursday".