8/18/2019 Few and Littel

1/2

0

Few, a few, the few; little, a little, the little

Posted by Manjusha; You are here: Home > Practical English

Usage > Using as well as

A few means some. It has a positive meaning. It is used with

countable nouns.Few means hardly any. It has a negative

meaning. The few means not many, but all of them.

Compare

There were a few members present. (Some members were

present.)

Few members attended the meeting. (Hardly any member

attended the meeting.)

He lost the few friends he had. (Not many, but all of them)

Note that few is used with plural nouns.

A little, little and the little

Little is used with uncountable nouns. A little means some. It

has a positive meaning. Little means hardly any. It has a

negative meaning. The little means not much but all of that

much.

Give me a little milk. (some milk.)

I have little money. (hardly any)

He drank off the little milk we had. (not much, but all of that

much)

Custom Search

616

Categories

Home

English Grammar

Practical English Usage

Grammatical Terms

English Writing

Vocabulary

English Speaking

Business English

Grammar worksheets

TOEFL

IELTS

English grammar and vocabulary

exercises

Official Grammar Blog

English grammar exercises

About Us

Link To Us

Links

Terms of Use

Advertise With Us

Site Map

Subscribe to our feed

Home  Recent posts  English Grammar  English Writing  Practical English Usage  English

Speaking  Vocabulary  TOEFL  Business English Grammar Worksheets  IELTS  Test

Preparation  English grammar exercises

, a few, the few; little, a little, the little http://www.perfectyourenglish.com/usage/few-little.ht

2 02/05/2015 20:42

8/18/2019 Few and Littel

2/2

See Also

Fairly, quite, rather and pretty

Far

Farther and further

Feel

Few and little

Finally, at last, in the end and at the end

Finished: difference between I'm finished and I've finished

Fit and suit: difference

For

From

Search the Dictionary of Practical English

Usage

A  | B  | C  | D  | E  | F  | G  | H  | I 

|

J  | K  | L  | M  | N  | O  | P  | Q  |

R  |

S  | T  | U  | V  | W  | X  | Y  | Z

Show Full Index

 

Subscribe to our feed and get

great lessons and tips

delivered to your inbox.

Enter your email address:

All Rights Reserved.

Copyright © 

perfectyourenglish.com

, a few, the few; little, a little, the little http://www.perfectyourenglish.com/usage/few-little.ht

2 02/05/2015 20:42