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A Little /A few or Little /Few

It's a difference if you use a little / a few orlittle /few. Without the article, the words have a limiting or

negative meaning.

a little = somelittle = hardly any

Example:

I need a little money. - I need some money.

I need little money. - I need hardly any money.

a few = somefew = hardly any

Example:

A few friends visited me. - Some friends visited me.

Few friends visited me. - Hardly any friends visited me.

Without the article, little /few sound rather formal. That's why we don't use them very often in everyday

English. A negative sentence with much / many is more common here.

Example:

I need little money. = I do not need much money.

Few friends visited me. = Not many friends visited me.

Decide whether you have to use a little or a few.

1. 1.Could I have _______________ sugar for my tea, please?2. 2.If you want to make pancakes, you need _______________ eggs and

______________ flour.

3. 3.Have you got _________________ minutes? I need to talk to you.4. 4.When I am on holiday, I always write __________________ lines home.5. 5.I have ___________________ headache.6. 6.Jane has invited _________________boys to her party.7. 7.There is still _________________ work to do.8. 8.They sang __________________ songs.9. 9.Would you like __________________ more rice?10.1.There will be __________________ rain this week.11.2.________________ friends are coming over tonight.12.3.I need ________________sleep.13.4.Could you buy ________________bottles of water for me?14.5.My parents give me ________________ pocket money every week.15.6.All we need is ________________luck.16.7.I would like to eat ________________ biscuits now.17.8.There is still ________________ bread left.18.9.My friend knows ________________ English poems.19.10.There are ________________ birthdays to celebrate this month.

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Decide whether you have to use little or few.

1.We had ____________ snow last winter.

2. ____________ people were interested in the exhibition.

3.I speak ____________ French.

4.There are ____________ gentlemen nowadays.

5.She has ____________ relatives.

6.There is ____________ water in the pond.

7.The professor spends ____________ time in company.

8.We have ____________ knowledge of this phenomenon.

9.There are ____________ mushrooms in my mushroom soup.

10. ____________ animals can survive in the desert.

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Put in like or as:

1. Don't take my advice if you don't want to. You can do _____________ you like.

2. You waste too much time doing things _______________ sitting in cafes all day.

3. I wish I had a car ____________________ yours.

4. There's no need to change your clothes. You can go out ______________ you are.

5. My neighbour's house is full of interesting things. It's ____________ a museum.

6. I think I prefered this room_____________ it was, before we decorated it.

7. When we asked Sue to help us, she agreed immediately, ____________ I knew she would.

8. Sharon has been working _______________ a waitress for the last two months.

9. While we were on holiday, we spent most of our time doing energetic things ___________ sailing,

water skiing and swimming.

10. You're different from the other people I know. I don't know anyone _____________ you.

11. We dont need all the bedrooms in the house, so we use one of them ___________a study.

12. ______________ her father, Catherine has a very good voice.

13. The news that Sue and Jim were getting married came ____________ a complete surprise to me.

14. At the moment I've got a temporary job in a bookshop. It's OK ____________ a temporary job

but I wouldn't like to do it permanently.

15. Your English is very fluent. I wish I could speak ____________ you.

16. Why can't economists see the damage that legislation __________ this one has done in the past

decade.

17. Taxes on capital are _______________ taxes on job.

18. The common customs tariff, together with protective measures ______________ the anti-

dumping regulations, are still not sufficient to solve all the union's problems.

19. There are only a few exceptions, notably _________ regard the common agricultural policy.

20. The results obtained have been described ____________ satisfactory.

21. They chose Delhi _______ the host city for the conference on mass production in industrialised

countries.

22. He made it clear that he didn't want to end up in a company ___________ the one which he

visited last week.

23. They seem unable to react to changes at world level in the same way __________ their

competitors.

24. The business students talked about the Lom convention,which many regarded ______________

a model of development cooperation.

25. ...and ___________ a consequence,their raw material is of substantard quality.

26. I think that what he really meant was the shares looked ______________ a promising long term

gamble.

27. The whole thing looks _____________ common sense to me!

28. The flow of foreign exchange is regarded nowadays ______________ the principal factorinfluencing development.

29. It is results _______________ that which are very encouraging especially when you've worked

hard.

30. Countries _______________ the ones we visited have been having economic problems lately.

31. He said that the threat of insolvency was ___________ a sentence of immediate hanging ...