Using a few and few ; a little and little

Using a few and few ; a little and little

a few and a little give a positive idea; they indicate that something exists , is present.

Example

- she has been here only two weeks, but she has already made a few friends

( positive ideas : she has made some friends )

- I am very pleased . I have been able to save a little money this month.

( positive idea : I have saved some money instead of spending all of it )

Few and little ( without a ) give a negative idea; they indicate that something is largely absent.

Very + few/little makes the negative stronger , the number / amount smaller.

- I feel sorry for her. She has ( very ) few friends

( negative idea : she does not have many friends; she has almost no friends )

- I have very little money. I don’t even have enough money to buy food for dinner.

( negative idea : I do not have much money; I have almost no money )

Exercise : a few and few ; a little and little

Directions: without substantially changing the meaning of the sentence , replace the italicized words with a few , (very ) few , a little , or ( very ) little.

1. I think that some lemon juice on fish makes it taste better

2. Many people are multilingual, but not many people speak more than ten languages

3. Some sunshine is better than none

4. January is a cold and dreary month in northern states. There is not much sunshine during that month

5. My parents like to watch TV. Every evening they watch two or three programs on TV before they go to bed

6. I don’t watch TV very much because there are hardly any television programs that I enjoy.

7. If a door squeaks, several drops of oil in the right places can prevent future trouble

8. If your door squeaks , put some oil on the hinges

9. Mr.Adams doesn’t like to wear rings on his fingers. He wears almost no jewelry

Exercise ii : using a few and few ; a little and little

Directions : complete the sentences with a few, ( very ) few, a little, ( very ) little

1. Do you have ………………. minutes ? I’d like to ask you ………….. questions. I need …………….. more information.

2. Diana’s previous employer gave her a good recommendation because she makes …………..mistakes in her work

3. After steve tasted the soup , he added ………….. salt to it

4. I don’t like a lot of salt  on my food. I add salt to my food

5. I like music. I like to listen to ……………. music after dinner before I begin studying

6. Driving downtown to the stadium for the baseball game was easy. We got there quickly because there was …………………… traffic

7. Jim is having a lot of troubke adjusting to eight grade. He seems to be unpopular. Unfortunately , he has ………. friends.

8. We are looking forward to our vacation. We are planning to spend ……………………….. days with my folks and then ……………. days with my husband’s folks. After that, we are going to go to a fishing resort in canada

9. A. Are you finished ?

  B . Not yet. I need ……………….more minutes

10. A. are you finished ?

   B. Not yet. I need ………………. more time

11. I was hungry , so I ate ……..nuts

12. Because the family is very poor, the children have ………….toys

13. Into each life , …… rain must fall. ( a saying )

14. Natasha likes sweet tea. She usually adds ………honey to her tea.Sometimes she adds ……………… milk, too

15. Has nayone ever called you on the phone and tried to sell you something you didn’t want ? I have …….. patience with people who interrupt my dinner to try to sell me a mgazine.

16. He’s a lucky little boy. Because his parents have taken good care of him , he has had ………….. problems in his young life