Look at these examples to see how these quantifiers are used with countable and uncountable nouns.
I have a few friends, so I'm not lonely.
She has few friends, so she's quite lonely.
We've got a bit of time before our train. Shall we get a coffee?
We've got very little time before our train. Hurry up!
Try this exercise to test your grammar.
- Grammar test 1
Read the explanation to learn more.
Grammar explanation
A few and a bit of or a little mean some. Often we feel this amount is enough or more than we expected. We use a few with plural nouns and a bit of or a little with uncountable nouns.
I have a few ideas.
I've brought a few friends.
There's a bit of milk left.
It needs a little more work.
We use few and very little to show that we are talking about a small amount. Often we feel this amount is not enough or less than we expected. Few is for countable nouns and very little is for uncountable nouns.
Few people came to the meeting.
There are few places where you can still see these birds.
We have very little time.
I have very little money.
Note that you can use little without very, but it is less common and sounds quite formal.
She had little water.
Do this exercise to test your grammar again.
- Grammar test 2
Hello qurtubi,
'some' and 'a few' have very similar meanings. I'd say that 'some' is a little less specific than 'a few', which is often used to refer fewer items than 'some'. But both are very relative and so I'm afraid there is no specific number of items they refer to, because both can refer to groups that are relatively small (for example, the people in a class) or to millions (for example, the number of cars in a country).
In terms of grammar, 'some' can be used with both count and uncount nouns, whereas 'a few' can only be used with count nouns.
Hope this helps.
All the best,
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Zuu kyarr wan,
Yes, that's perfectly fine. You can also use 'few' without 'a', but the meaning is a little different:
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hi Tim_Bui,
A coffee here refers to a cup of coffee.
You can find an explanation and more examples of this feature on this page:
https://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/english-grammar-reference/common-problems-with-count-and-uncount-nouns
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello hamzahh,
Sometimes grammars say that 'a few' has a positive or optimistic meaning and 'few' has a more negative or pessimistic meaning. For example, if I say I have a few friends, it suggests that I'm happy with the number of friends I have. But if I say I have few friends, it suggests that I wish I had more friends than I do.
Does that help you make more sense of it?
All the best,
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Ethan hunt
There are many reasons, but one is that most of us often only partially understand what we learn at the time we learn it. As we encounter and practise using grammar, we often discover new aspects to it.
All the best
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team