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Few / Little / A bit

Few / Little / A bit
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Activity Drag&Drop
Few / Little: how to express small quantities or numbers in English.
 

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Instructions

Click on the words at the bottom and drag them into the empty boxes of the sentence to complete it.
 

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

Items

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

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