Talk:quite a bit

RFD 2010

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quite a bit

quite a few

Sum of parts. Mglovesfun (talk) 17:24, 5 June 2010 (UTC)

Possibly comparable: quite a lot, rather a lot. Equinox ◑ 18:54, 5 June 2010 (UTC)

Which sense of quite is this referring to? Polarpanda 22:56, 5 June 2010 (UTC)

I don't get the grammar of this expression in our PoS framework. What part of speech is "quite"? If it really is an adverb, what adjective or verb or other adverb would it be modifying.

Cambridge Advanced Learners, Macmillan, and Collins COBUILD (all aimed at learners) show it as a "predeterminer". Some other dictionaries show "quite a" or "quite a something" as an idiom. We need to have a usage note and perhaps a category for predeterminers if this all "quite a" expressions are not be be considered as idioms. I don't yet get what CGEL says about these. I would favor accommodating all predeterminers within our existing PoS headers until we have evidence that a large proportion of normal users (at least of learners) are being taught this grammatical category. We could use redirects from some of the most common examples, such as those Equinox refers to. DCDuring TALK 01:07, 6 June 2010 (UTC)

Keep at least "quite a few". It is not evident from the parts that it means more than a few. --Hekaheka 06:20, 10 June 2010 (UTC)

Err on the side of keep both. Merriam-Webster Online has both. --Dan Polansky 10:45, 14 November 2010 (UTC)

Striking as no consensus for deletion. Voting for deletion: Mglovesfun. Voting for keeping "quite a few": Hekaheka, Dan Polansky. Voting for keeping of "quite a bit": Dan Polansky. Unclear: Equinox, DCDuring, Polarpanda. These are only few clear votes, but the nomination has expired months ago, without getting enough clear votes for deletion. --Dan Polansky 10:45, 14 November 2010 (UTC)

RFD 2012

The following information passed a request for deletion.

This discussion is no longer live and is left here as an archive. Please do not modify this conversation, but feel free to discuss its conclusions.

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quite a bit

Actually quite + a bit, note that of the onelook hits, only one is for quite a bit, the others are for quite or bit, which list quite a bit under these headings. Mglovesfun (talk) 21:23, 24 January 2012 (UTC)

keep. This seems obvious. Many dictionaries include it, it belongs to the vocabulary of English. And it does not mean quite + a bit. Lmaltier 21:54, 27 January 2012 (UTC)

How many dictionaries? Name some, please. Mglovesfun (talk) 22:26, 28 January 2012 (UTC)

Most dictionaries have no separate entries for phrases, but include definitions nonetheless. This is not a criterion. Here are some examples of definitions for this phrase:

• the link you provide yourself
• http://www.englishclub.com/ref/esl/Idioms/Q/quite_a_bit_of_quite_a_lot_of_222.htm
• http://www.proz.com/kudoz/english_to_french/surveying/886534-some_quite_a_bit_a_lot_a_great_deal.html
• http://www.yourdictionary.com/quite-a-bit
• http://www.macmillandictionary.com/dictionary/british/quite
• http://dictionary.reverso.net/english-cobuild/quite%20a%20bit
• and my Concise Oxford Dictionary does not include quite a bit but includes quite a few, which is exactly the same case.

Lmaltier 09:41, 29 January 2012 (UTC)

That's sort of what I meant to say, only online dictionaries have it, no printed dictionaries have it. And anyone can create an online dictionary, it's (quite obviously) totally unregulated. Mglovesfun (talk) 18:11, 30 January 2012 (UTC)

Paper dictionaries too are unregulated. Anybody can create a paper dictionary. But my point was that many dictionary authors(and the creator of this Wiktionary page too) found it useful to include this phrase (or quite a few). This shows that they consider it useful. And I agree with them. Do you think that you know better than all these authors ? Lmaltier 12:48, 4 February 2012 (UTC)

Chambers has quite a few (but not quite a bit or quite a lot). Equinox ◑ 18:17, 30 January 2012 (UTC)

Hmm... quite a bit, quite a few, quite a lot... There is some kind of pattern with these, even though "quite" appears to be specifying a larger amount rather than (as is usual, e.g. "quite a bad film") a smaller one. Equinox ◑ 18:16, 30 January 2012 (UTC)

Quite. DAVilla 15:56, 5 February 2012 (UTC)

•  Keep, strongly agree with analysis by Lmaltier (talk • contribs), above. -- Cirt (talk) 23:48, 13 February 2012 (UTC)

Kept. — TAKASUGI Shinji (talk) 02:26, 8 August 2012 (UTC)

Determiner; noun

quite a few is both a determiner and a noun though --Backinstadiums (talk) 15:13, 24 May 2020 (UTC)

How should quite a bit of (trouble) be parsed? --Backinstadiums (talk) 10:57, 26 November 2020 (UTC)