[Grammar] Difference Between Some & Little

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rn5a

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There is only _____ water left in the jug.

Will the answer be some or little? I know that the determiner little is used for uncountable nouns & some is used for both countable & uncountable nouns. So which is the correct answer - some or little? Please let me know the reason.

My brother got the following question in his English exam where in the words of a sentence are scrambled & a proper sentence has to be framed using those words:

success/depends/a man's/chiefly/on himself

The options given were

1. A man's success chiefly depends on himself.
2. A man's success depends chiefly on himself.

Which is the correct answer & why? I find both of them technically correct.

Thanks,

Ron
 

Koronas

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"There is little water left in the jug." or
"There is only a little water left in the jug."

1 and 2 are interchangeable. 2 sounds more natural but I suspect that grammar experts would object to the fact that the verb "to depend on" is split by the word "chiefly".

My own preference would be for: "A man's success depends, chiefly, on himself."
 

Rover_KE

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I prefer 'A man's success depends chiefly on himself'.

Rover
 

rn5a

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"There is little water left in the jug." or
"There is only a little water left in the jug."
But what is wrong with

There is some water left in the jug.

Since some can be used for both countable & uncountable nouns, how does one understand where to use some & where to use little? Because we say

Give me some water.

We don't say

Give me little water.

So what's the difference between the determiners some & little?

Thanks,

Ron
 

Koronas

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But what is wrong with
There is some water left in the jug.

There is nothing wrong with it but the original sentence contained "only". You can't say "there is only some water" because "some" is non-specific.
 
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