what the diffrenet between few and a few

Question

please can any one descibe to me what the diffrenece between few and a few.

Doll · Accepted Answer

Here is my try:

few has a negative meaning, it means not many.

a few has a positive meaing it means some, several.

There is few food left in the refrigator. --- You may not endure with it. It is not enough.

There is a few food in the refrigator. -- There is not much food but you can eat some, it will endure you.

The positive and negative things I told you is not something universally excepted. I just tried to explain to you.

Anonymous · Answer

The concept is right. Unfortunately the grammar is a bit more complicated than that.

Few means not many. Little means not much. Both mean not a lot of, which you can use every time.

few is used with countable nouns -

There are very few things in the refrigerator. ---not a lot of things/ not many things

Few native speakers understand this grammar! ----not a lot of native speakers/ not many native speakers

Because there was a test that day, few students came to the lesson. ---not a lot of students/ not many students

little is used with uncountable/mass nouns -

There is little food left in the refrigerator -----not a lot of food/ not much food

There was little noise in the classroom during the test. -----not a lot of noise/ not much noise

I have very little work to do -----I don't have a lot of work/ I don't have much work

If you say a few or a little it means some

There are a few things left in the refrigerator

There is a little food left in the refrigerator.

Remember!

Countable nouns - you can count them -- 1 student, 2 students, 3 students....

There is a student in the room. There are 3 students in the room.

Uncountable/mass nouns - are collective, you can't count them -

There is work to do. ~~There are works to do. 1 work, 2 works, 3 works...~~

There is a lot of work to do.

Hope this helps!

Cool Breeze · Answer

Hi IS

In addition to what Doll has said it should be noted that only plural nouns are possible with few/a few:

He has few friends. = He has very few friends.
He has a few friends. = He has some friends.

Little can be used with singular nouns:
There is [very] little food in the fridge. (= There is hardly any food.)
There is a little food in the fridge. (= There is some food.)

Cheers
CB

Doll · Answer

Thank you CB. I didn't know this difference. <img class='emoticon' style='Width:19px;Height:19px;' data-delaysrc='https://uat-englishforward-forums-backend.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/Emoticons/10.gif' src='https://uat-englishforward-forums-backend.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/Emoticons/10.gif' alt='Emotion: embarrassed'/>

what the diffrenet between few and a few

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