Few, little, less, fewer. Flashcards
We often use a few, a little with nouns, but they can be used as pronouns.
Note: Quite a few means quite a large number.
She’s been away from work for quite a few weeks (several).
It is a part of the world visited by few.
Do you want a chocolate? There is still a few left.
Little is known about the painter’s early life.
Do you know anything about car engines? A little.
We can use THE FEW or THE LITTLE to mean NOT ENOUGH.
Instead of THE FEW or THE LITTLE, we can use WHAT FEW/LITTLE to mean the small amount/number of.
It’s one of the few shops in the centre where you can buy food.
She gave what little money she had to the man.
What few visitors we have are always made welcome.
In formal writing, we use few, little.
In Informal, we use:
Not many/much;
Only/just…a few/little.
I haven’t had much time today. (not I had little time).
I’ve only got a few things to do. (not I’ve got few things….).
Want a bit of chocolate? (not a little chocolate?
LESS with uncountable
FEWER with plural countable nouns.
When talk about distance or amount of money, we use LESS than.
To emphasize that a number is very large we use NO LESS THAN or NO FEWER THAN.
With percentages, periods of time and quantities, we use NO LESS THAN.
You should eat less pasta.
there are fewer cars on the road today.
The beach is less than a mile away.
The team has had no fewer than ten managers just in five years.
Profits have increased by no less than 95% in the last year.
