quite some
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Offhand, I can only think of this usage:
'We've been waiting for quite some time', which doesn't mean much except 'for quite a long time.'
Rover
'We've been waiting for quite some time', which doesn't mean much except 'for quite a long time.'
Rover
I agree with Rover KE. "Quite some time" is the only example I can think of, and it does mean "a very long time."
It can mean "quite a lot", as Rover KE says - "quite some time".
It can also be used as an intensifier meaning more or less "considerable, pretty" - "quite some big money" = "a considerable sum of money" for instance, "quite some good" = "pretty good".
EDIT: I'm not saying this is always true, as you can never generalize the meaning, I just showed a few examples.
And that's just my opinion.
Oh, and welcome to the forums, soede. Hope you'll enjoy your stay.
It can also be used as an intensifier meaning more or less "considerable, pretty" - "quite some big money" = "a considerable sum of money" for instance, "quite some good" = "pretty good".
EDIT: I'm not saying this is always true, as you can never generalize the meaning, I just showed a few examples.
And that's just my opinion.
Oh, and welcome to the forums, soede. Hope you'll enjoy your stay.
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I don't think "quite some big money" nor "quite some good" are idiomatic sentences.
They may be or not be idiomatic, but that's the only meaning I can read from them.
EDIT:
Another example:
quite some number of people = quite a lot of people
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Understandable doesn't necessarily equal correct. Have you actually seen these as examples of genuine English or have you made them up? If you think they're acceptable English then please provide some complete sentences as examples.
I think there may be some colloquial usage meaning impressive, as in: "That's quite some car you've got there"
See my edited post above yours. Don't you agree?
I think this is the same colloquial usage that I suggest - meaning impressive. It only works as "a lot" in your example because of the inclusion of "number".
quite some number = an impressive number = a lot
quite some people = impressive, interesting or fascinating people
I still hold that "quite some big money" and "quite some good" simply don't work.
It would be a great help if soede would give some context.
Otherwise we end up speculating and indeed inventing implausible sentences using this expression.
Hello soede, and welcome to WordReference.
Context is important
It would be a great help if soede would give some context.
Otherwise we end up speculating and indeed inventing implausible sentences using this expression.
Hello soede, and welcome to WordReference.
Context is important
I saw one sentence as " Quite some of you have a HLO diploma and consider to work as a technician for some time after finishing Msc".
Thanks every body!
The use of quite some in that sentence is not idiomatic, and indeed other aspects of the sentence are strange too.
In the British National Corpus, for example, most examples of quite some are quite some time, others are quite some distance. If you replace quite some with a considerable, the meaning should be clear.
If the sentence does not make sense when you do that, it's likely that quite some is not being used properly.
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It means there are a lot of mistakes in the sentence. Nothing more and nothing less.
It should be clear from the other posts in the thread that the term exists but in this case is being used incorrectly.