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Anonymous Posted 19 years ago
Grammar

This book is a little interesting

0 Hello guys! Merry Christmas from Japan! 02br
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00By the way I got one question. My English teacher said "This book is a little interesting" is somehow wrong. Is it true? How does it sound to you? Does it sound weird?02br
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00Thanks in advance02br
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00Himiko0-
  

Top answer

02br 00interesting = adjective02br 02br 02font 00 0-

  • 02br 00interesting = adjective02br 02br 02font 00 0-
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6 Answers
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0 01b01i01font00a little02font02i02b00 is a determiner, which is a 01font01i01b01font00noun02font00 modifier02b02i00.02br
00interesting = adjective02br
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00 0-
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0Hi, IK, Merry Christmas!02br
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01i00a little02i00 can be used as adv02br
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00I myself won't say "01i00the book is a little interesting".02i00 It sounds a bit weird. But I don't know exactly what's wrong with it.0-
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0Yes, you can say "This soup is still a little hot for me," for example, meaning you have to wait for it to cool a little more before you can eat it.02br
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00But if you say "It's a little interesting" you mean it is not very interesting, and you'd stress the word "litle." (It's not completely terrible - it's a 01i00little 02i00interesting.) But if yo
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0Hi guys! Thank you all for the kind replies. 02br
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00Barbara, I think your reply contains what I am wanting. But I feel you would drop "a" from "a little" when you use it to negate the sense of the following adjective or adverb. Am I wrong? Anyway your comment is suggestive. My problem may be that I still don't clearly understand what 01i00down toners02i
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0 01blockquote
00My English teacher said "This book is a little interesting" is somehow wrong. Is it true?12blockquote
10 Yes, it is true. It sounds weird.02br
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00 This book is somewhat interesting02i
00 is what you want.02br
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00 I don't know whether it's a matter of the gradability of
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0 Hello CJ. 02br
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00Thank you very much for the useful comment. I was a bit surprised to know there is no rule about to what adjective we can put "a little". "A little" appears to me to be more resistive to going with adjectives of positive sense than to going with those of negative or neutral sense, although it would be a bit difficult to decide whether a given sense is

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