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