English

Phrase

a number of

1. Several.

   A number of people have commented on it.

   There are a number of problems with the log-in system.

2. Several of.

   I spoke with a number of them about it.

Usage notes

• This a leading example of the structure of a partitive construction. Other words that behave the same way as number does are dozen, quantity, score, hundred, army, lakh, mob, lot, plethora, myriad, herd.