MULTIMEDIA-ENGLISH

Before doing this activity you may need to read the text you will find at the end


  Drag&Drop
Few / Little / A bit
Focus Grammar
Description Few / Little: how to express small quantities or numbers in English.
Instructions Click on the words at the bottom and drag them into the empty boxes of the sentence to complete it.
 
Gapped text Items
Can I try ______________________ of that thing? It looks very tasty. a few / a bit
Fantastic! I found ______________________ people living on this little island a little / few / little / a few
We need to buy chairs, we haven't got ______________________. little / few / much / many
I like my tea with just a ______________________ sugar little / a bit / much
We've got ______________________ milk, we need to buy more. a few / few / little / a little
She's ______________________ short, but not very. few / a bit / a few / little
I've got ______________________ friends in Malaga, we can go and visit. a few / few / little / a little
I don't know ______________________ people in this city many / much / a bit
It rained ______________________, it's a pity, we need more water for the fields. a little / little / few / a few
It's ______________________ late, I have to go a few / a bit / much / bit
- Some more wine? - Just ______________________, please. few / little / a little / a few
I'm ______________________ tired, I really need some rest. little / a few / a little / few / bit
I need ______________________ sugar, have you got? bit / a bit / a bit of / a few / few
This is a very nice city, you can still find ______________________ palaces from the 15th century. few / a few / little / a little
Can I have ______________________ wine? a few / a little
- How many lions live there? - ______________________ Not many / Not much / A bit
______________________ people can understand this language Few / Little
I'm sorry, I have ______________________ time, I can't wait. a few / little / a little / few
I've got ______________________ time, we can go and have a beer. little / a few / a little / few
Let's celebrate! I've got ______________________ bottles of wine here. few / a little / little / a few
He just used ______________________ oil to fix it few / a bit of / bit / a few / a bit / little
It rained ______________________ and now everything is green little / few / a few / a little
I have ______________________ interest in basketball little / few
- Have you ever met any celebrities? - Oh yes, ______________________ a little / few / a few / little
- How many lions live there? - ______________________. Few / Little
Total number of items: 25
This is an activity from Multimedia-English www.multimedia-english.com
 

FEW/LITTLE WITH A NOUN

We use FEW for plural nouns and  LITTLE for singular nouns (usually uncountable) to talk about a small number or quantity of something.

Plurals Few
   Singular    
     Little    





We've got a little milk and a few eggs
Few politicians are really honest
There were few people at the meeting
Just a little wine, please
Can I try a little of that, please?


FEW/LITTLE WITHOUT A NOUN

If the noun has already been mentioned, we can just drop it and use FEW or LITTLE alone
 
- Some more soup?   - Just a little, please
- How many people were there?   - Few 


A LITTLE + adjectives / adverbs

We can use A LITTLE to modify adjectives and adverbs (answering the question HOW):

- I'm a little tired today
- Trains here go a little too slow
- I just met you but I already love you a little


Few or a Few / Little or a little?

FEW and LITTLE can use the article A. See the difference:
 
- I've got few friends here, I need to meet knew people   (negative idea: I need more)
- I've got a few friends here, so we can go out with them  (positive idea: it's enough)
 
- There's little food, we can't survive here for a week  (negative)
- Great! There's a little food here. I'm so hungry!  (positive)
 
Note: FEW and LITTLE, with no article, are very formal. In an informal style we prefer to say NOT MUCH/MANY.
 
- We've got little time (formal) = We haven't got much time (informal)
- Few people understand quantum physics = Not many people understand quantum physics


A BIT (colloquial)

In colloquial English we very often use A BIT OF + noun and A BIT + adjective instead of A LITTLE

- I only had a bit of wine = I only had a little wine
- It's a bit noisy here = It's a little noisy here