a little greed

[suprunp]

Besides, things were already moving forward by then, and there was a little greed at work on my part, too.
(H. Murakami; 1Q84)

Isn't 'greed' uncountable?

Thanks.

[bhaisahab]

Besides, things were already moving forward by then, and there was a little greed at work on my part, too.
(H. Murakami; 1Q84)

Isn't 'greed' uncountable?

Thanks.

Yes, it is but that doesn't affect the correctness of the sentence.

[TheParser]

[QUOTE=suprunp;836764]


NOT A TEACHER


(1) May I add a few words to the moderator's excellent answer.

(2) I checked my books and discovered the following:

(a) The phrase "a little" is a so-called "quantifier."

(i) It is used with so-called "mass" (uncountable) nouns.
(ii) It means "some."

(3) Presumably, Boku was writing that "there was some greed on my part, too."

(4) I found this sentence in The Grammar Book (by Mesdames Celce-Murcia and

Larsen-Freeman). It shows you the difference between "a little" and "little":

He then took a little (= some) butter, with the result that little (= not much) was left for the rest of us.