Improve your English in the Reading Rooms
Listen and write
Red Level
Lesson Nine
a few / a little
Few is used with count nouns:
a few = 3-4 few = a small amount
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Q: How many cars are there? A: There are just a few. (a few = 3 or 4) |
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| There are a few bananas on the table. |
 (a few = 3 or 4) |
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She’s sad because she has very few friends. (This means she doesn’t have many friends. Notice there is no article. “A few” means something different. |
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Few people were at the meeting. She expected 20, but only three came. (In this example and the one above, the situation is not good.) |
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Little is used with non count nouns
a little / little = a small amount
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He dropped a little paint on his wife’s head. You can also use… a little bit of He dropped a little bit of paint on his wife’s head. |
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| There’s a little snow on the road and on the ground. |  |
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He got very little sleep last night. (Notice that “sleep” is a noun in this sentence. “A little sleep” is a small amount of sleep, and “little sleep” is not very much sleep or no sleep.) |
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Q: Did she find what she was looking for in the newspaper? A: No. There was very little information. |
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Try this quiz.