英語を理解し話すことは、オーストラリアでの生活を向上させるのにとても役立ちます。ポッドキャスト、SBS Learn Englishでは、日々のさまざまなシチュエーションで使えるとっさの英語や表現を、あらゆる例を取り入れて簡単に説明します。
このエピソードは、中級者に適しています。聴き終わったらクイズで学習成果を確認しましょう。
学習ノート
少ない数を示す便利なフレーズ：
- There are a few presents waiting to be wrapped.
- I have some friends coming over.
- I bought a couple of different flavours.
- There are several questions I want to ask.
大きい数を示す便利なフレーズ：
- I saw loads of bags on the table!
- We’ve got plenty of time.
- She’s got heaps of clothes.
- We’ve got tons of work to do.
- There are dozens of shops in that mall.
口語的な言い回し：
“A few” は少ない２，３など「少ない数」を示しますが、一方で “quite a few” は予想より大きいとか、沢山であることを示します。
学習のポイント：
英語では、数えられるもの（一般的に単数形と複数形を使い分けるもの）と、数えられないもの（一般的に複数形で表さないもの）で、異なる表現をすることがあります。
しかし、時に数えられるものと数えられないものを線引きが難しかったり、また同じ単語にでも、コンテキストや捉え方によって数えられたり数えられなかったりする事があります。
また、数えられるものと数えられないものの両方に使える言い回しもあります。本編で出てきた、プレゼントや、味の種類、質問、バッグ、お店、服などはすべて数えられるものです：
- There are a few presents
- I bought a couple of different flavours
- There are several questions I’d. like to ask.
- I saw loads of bags on the table!
- There are dozens of shops in that mall.
- She’s got heaps of clothes.
一方で、食べ物、時間、仕事などは数えられないものです：
- We’ve got loads of food
- We’ve got plenty of time.
- We’ve got tons of work to do.
でも、上記の単語も時に複数形で使われることがあります。例えば：
- I like all the foods that are bad for me!
- I’ve seen that movie three times
- I haven’t read all the works of Shakespeare (yet?)
とてもややこしいですが、単語によってはコンテキストによってこのように変化するのです。
トランスクリプト：
(注：これは一字一句書き起こしたものではありません）
SBS acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of Country and their connections and continuous care for the skies, lands, and waterways throughout Australia.
This is a special episode for us. Know why? It’s our 100th episode! To us...that’s a big number! So we decided that for this episode we will talk about numbers.
I’m Josipa and I’d like you to imagine the city’s buzz fades as you close the door, bags of Christmas shopping in hand. It feels good to be home after all the walking. The thought of Christmas...
Claire
I need to wrap these.
...make you smile? Claire has just got back home. She puts some music on, makes herself a cup of tea, and is ready to start wrapping her presents, when Allan arrives.
Claire
There are a few presents waiting to be wrapped.
Allan
Just a few? I saw loads of bags on the table!
Claire
True, but for roughly half of them I’ll use the same wrapping paper. That will speed things up.
Allan
That’s still plenty to wrap!
There are a lot of English expressions for talking about quantities, and the words themselves are pretty simple. The key is knowing when to use each one. So today, we’re focusing on how much each phrase really means and when to use it.
Let’s begin… We will start small and get bigger.
When talking about small quantities of something, we can use Claire’s phrase when she said,
There are a few presents waiting to be wrapped.
We use ‘a’ when we are referring to a small number of things that you can count – we say countable things. We use it when we want to say that there is a small quantity of whatever it is, but enough to matter.
We can also use the phrase ‘a couple of’, which technically means only two, but can be used in some contexts for ‘about’ two, if we are not exactly sure how many but it is a small number
I bought a couple of different flavours, so you can choose.
When it’s a bit more than ‘a few, we can use the word ‘several’.
There are several questions I’d. like to ask.
But let’s say we want to talk about ‘a lot’ of something. We could use Allan’s example,
I saw loads of bags on the table!
If you say you’ve got loads of something, you mean you have a lot — a big number or amount. It’s a really common, informal way to talk about a quantity that you think is large, or large enough. So you could say,
Please stay for dinner. We’ve got loads of food.
You could also say plenty of, which means pretty much the same thing.
We’ve got plenty of time.
Other casual phrases we can use to mean the same thing are ‘heaps of’ or ‘tons of’.
She’s got heaps of clothes.
We’ve got tons of work to do.
But if you want to stress that you really do have quite a few of whatever it is you can say gazilion of.
There are gazillion of shops in that mall.
Now, remember we said that “a few” refers to a very small, countable number of something. Well, if we want to talk about a slightly larger amount, we can say “quite a few, ”, which actually means the opposite!
There’re quite a few presents on your table.
We often use ‘quite a few’ when we think the number is a little larger than we might expect.
True, but for roughly half of them I’ll use the same wrapping paper.
We can use‘roughly’ to describe an amount, number, or time that is approximate, not exact. It’s often used when you want to give a general idea rather than a precise measurement.
I’ve already spent roughly half of my budget for presents.
And how about you? Do you have a lot of presents to buy at this time of year? Some people buy heaps of presents when they go to visit their families, while others only buy a few. What about you?
Paul Nicholson and Lily O'Sullivan voiced the characters of Allan and Claire, and Professor Lynda Yates was our educational consultant.
SBSの日本語放送は火木金の午後１時からSBS3で生放送！
火木土の夜10時からはおやすみ前にSBS1で再放送が聞けます。
