Unit 9: Quantifiers

Something that is interesting about quantifiers is the use of a few/few with count nouns and a little/little with non-count nouns.

There is an important difference between "a little" and "little"and between "a few" and "few". If I say that Mary has a little experience in management that means that although Mary is no great expert she does have some experience and that experience might well be enough for our purposes. If I say that Mary has little experience in management that means that she doesn't have enough experience. If I say that Charlie owns a few books on Latin American literature that means that he has some some books — not a lot of books, but probably enough for our purposes. If I say that Charlie owns few books on Latin American literature, that means he doesn't have enough for our purposes and we'd better go to the library.

Another examples:


Few
We know few people in the area. (I would like to get to know more.)

A few
We know a few people in the area. (I know enough people to keep me happy.)

Little
I know little English. (I am going to have a problem getting around England.)

A little
I know a little English. (at least enough to get England.)


Student Name: JUAN CARLOS POZO QUINTANILLA

A05F