Does “bored” mean the same as “boring”? What’s the difference between “funny” and “fun”? Here are some commonly confused English word pairs.
LITTLE AND FEW, A LITTLE AND A FEW Little (=> not much or not enough) is used with uncountable nouns:
Examples:
They have very little money.
There seems little hope.
He ate very little at lunch.
Few (=> a small number, not many or not enough) is used with countable nouns:
Examples:
Only few people can afford to pay such prices.
I know few places that I could recommend to you.
Note: little and few have somewhat negative meanings:
Example:
I know few places that I could recommend to you = I would like to be able to recommend more places, but unfortunately there aren't more.
When we use the indefinite article a before little and few, it has a more positive meaning, similar to some.
a few is used with countable nouns
Examples:
We need to get a few things in town.
We've got a few cakes left over from the party. = We've got some cakes left over from the party.
a little - is used with uncountable nouns
Example:
With a little training Mike could do very well.
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