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Topic 12 - Quantifiers - a little, little, a few, few

Quantifiers are words used to express quantities and can be categorized into numerals, indefinite quantifiers, and partitives. 'A little' and 'a few' indicate some quantity, while 'little' and 'few' imply a negative connotation of insufficient amounts. The document explains their usage with countable and uncountable nouns, as well as their role as pronouns and partitives.

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5 views

Topic 12 - Quantifiers - a little, little, a few, few

Quantifiers are words used to express quantities and can be categorized into numerals, indefinite quantifiers, and partitives. 'A little' and 'a few' indicate some quantity, while 'little' and 'few' imply a negative connotation of insufficient amounts. The document explains their usage with countable and uncountable nouns, as well as their role as pronouns and partitives.

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ivetatodorova03
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Topic 12: Quantifiers – a little, little, a few, few

Grammar Reference
Quantifiers
Quantifiers are words and phrases, which are used to talk about quantities, amounts and
degree. We can use them with nouns (as determiners) or without nouns (as pronouns).
The quantifiers in English are 3 types: numerals (one, two, a hundred, two thousand);
indefinite quantifiers (some, any, many, several, all, no); general and specific partitives
(general: a lot of, many of, both of, all of; specific: a pinch of, a lump of, a drop of).
The numeral quantifiers are used only with countable nouns.
The indefinite quantifiers are divided into 3 groups depending on whether they are used only
with countable nouns (another, both, each, either, neither, (a) few, a number of, many,
several, most, a couple of), only with uncountable nouns (a great/good deal, (a) little, less,
much, part, the whole, a bit), or with both countable and uncountable nouns (more, a lot, lots,
most, all, some, any, plenty, no, none, half, enough).
The indefinite quantifiers become partitives when they are followed by the preposition ‘of’
and a general determiner (all of the (books), neither of my (children), many of these (ideas)).
The specific partitive quantifiers combine with particular nouns (a bunch of flowers, a pinch
of salt, a carton of milk).
A little and little; a few and few
(A) little and (a) few are quantifiers meaning ‘some’. Little and few have negative meanings.
We use them to mean ‘not as much as may be expected or wished for’. We use a little with
singular uncountable nouns, little with uncountable nouns, and a few and few – with plural
countable nouns. For example:
Mary said nothing, but she drank some tea and ate a little bread.
I’m not very happy about it but I suppose I have little choice.
We stayed a few days in Florence and visited the museums.
Few cities anywhere in Europe can match the cultural richness of Berlin.
We can use (a) little and (a) few as pronouns. We can use them to substitute for a noun when
their reference is obvious from the context. For example:
After that, she began to tell them a little about her life in Scotland, particularly her life
with the Rosenblooms.

Don’t take all the strawberries. Just have a few.

We use (a) little and (a) few as partitives followed by the preposition ‘of’ when they come
before articles (a/an, the), demonstratives (this, that), possessives (my, your), or pronouns
(him, them). For example:
Put the flour into a bowl, blend with a little of the milk, beat in the egg yolks, then add the
sugar and the rest of the milk.

A few of his films were seen abroad.

Sources:
Collins COBUILD Intermediate English Grammar and Practice, Practice Material by Dave
Willis, HarperCollins Publishers 2004, 2011.
English for Academic Research: Grammar Exercises. A. Wallwork. 2013. Springer.

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