When teaching recently, one of my students was talking about persuading English-speaking potential clients to start to use her company’s services. She said;
“I will tell them that there are few advantages in using us…”
In other words, she had suggested that there were not many advantages in using her company. I quickly pointed out the serious mistake in what she said, and that she was more likely to lose them as potential clients if she said that. So, what did she say which was wrong? Well, it’s all about the emphasis of what she wants to say, and whether or not she wants to highlight the positive or the negative. The simple addition of the article “a” changes this emphasis dramatically. What she meant to say was;
“I will tell them that there a are few advantages in using us…”
The difference between ”few” and ”a few”
So, how does the inclusion of one little word make such a difference? What is the difference between “few” and “a few”?
Few = Not many
A few = Some
- Few is used to quantify with plural countable nouns.
- Without the article “a”, few emphasises a small number of something.
- Adding the article removes the emphasis — a few means some.
- The same rule applies to little, which is used with singular uncountable nouns.
When it comes to “few”, adding an “a” can change the meaning of the sentences in which they appear. The change is important but is subtle, however, so it can easily be omitted.
We say “few” when we want to talk about the small quantity of something;
- Few teenagers read newspapers.
In the sentence above, we used few to indicate that not many teenagers read newspapers. However, if we were to add “a” to “few”, we would change the meaning:
- A few teenagers read newspapers
Here we’re saying that some teenagers read newspapers. There still aren’t many of them, but the emphasis is on the fact on that there are some who do read newspapers and not that their number is small. So, in other words, we want to stress that there are, perhaps surprisingly, a number of teenagers that read them. Here’s another example:
- I have a lot of valuable coins; I’ve had few of them since I was a child.
- I have a lot of valuable coins; I’ve had a few of them since I was a child.
In the first sentence, I am saying that, although I have lots of valuable coins, I haven’t had most of them for very long—there’s only a small number of them I’ve had since I was a child. In the second sentence, I am saying that I have many valuable coins and some of them I have had for a very long time. In other words, in the first sentence I am emphasising that most of them I haven’t had for a long time, in the second sentence I am emphasising that some of them I have had for a very long time
The exception to these usage rules is a “few”, in the phrase “quite a few”. That phrase is used to indicate the opposite of a “few”. “Quite a few” means a lot:
- I have a lot of valuable coins; I’ve had quite a few of them since I was a child.
The Difference Between ”little” and ”a little”
Little = Not many
A little = Some
“Little” and “a little” follow the same pattern as “few” vs. “a few”. The only difference is that we use “few” and “a few”. with countable nouns in the plural form, and we use “little” and “a little” with uncountable nouns:
- We had little money to spend at the market.
- We had a little money to spend at the market.
In the first example, we are saying that we didn’t have a lot of money to spend. In the second one, we’re saying that we had some money, but not a lot.
So, if you have little time to read and share some of my blogs, maybe you can do it another time. However, if you do have a little time, then please read them now.
If you have enjoyed reading this blog, please ‘like’ it and share it with your friends and colleagues, and if you know anyone who might be interested in my online one-to-one lessons, please do ask them to contact me to discuss how I can help them to excel in English.
Thank you,
Martin
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