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Originally Posted by Vincents_Genesius_Evans Thanks Dandelion...
You've been very helpful..
But I don't think it's quite suitable for the questions and answer keys from the book that I bought, either we're talking about different kind of expressions of number and quantity ("a few", "few", etc.), or the book's answer key was wrong.
But I really like your explanation, and I found it very useful, thanks..
GBu.. -=VGE=- |
What's the name of your book? I'm afraid the questions in it are not very suitable. You see, you need more context.
Let's try again.
a little = some; a small amount / a few = some; a small number (Positive Idea)
little = nearly no/nearly nothing / few = nearly no (Negative Idea)
PLEASE NOTE that "only a little" and "only a few" have a negative meaning.
Pease hurry. We've only got a little time.
The village was very small. There were only a few houses.
1. There is ___ rice left. I need to cook some more.
There is little (nearly no) rice left. I need to cook some more. OK
There is a little (a small amount of) rice left, but I still need to cook some more. (There's not enough for everybody.) OK
2. There is only ___ water left, so share it with others.
There is
only a little water left, so share it with the others. OK
There is little (nearly no) water left, so share it with the others. OK
There is
only little water left,so share it with the others.Ungrammatical
3. I have ___ things to add to that topic.
I have few things (nearly nothing) to add to that topic. OK
I have a few (a small number of) things to add to that topic. OK
4. There were ___ mistakes on your essay.
There were few (nearly no) mistakes in your essay. OK
There were a few (some) mistakes in your essay. OK
I hope this helps.