The difference between A FEW and FEW in English

hello Yvonne this is Andrew at Crown Academy of English today we are doing a vocabulary lesson all about the difference between a few and a few so let's start a few and few are quantifiers quantifiers describe the number or quantity of something and the general meaning of a few and few is a small number of something example so this situation is that there are five towels in the bathroom so we can say there are a few towels in the bathroom this is correct and this sentence describes this situation but we can also say there are few towels in the bathroom that is also grammatically correct and it describes this situation so both sentences are grammatically correct but there is an important difference in meaning so there is quite a big difference in meaning between these two sentences so let's look at the difference between a few and a few another situation mark has three friends Jane also has three friends so that is the situation mark says I have a few friends a few means a small number however mark is satisfied with the number okay that's important so a few it simply means some and the feeling or opinion is neutral the tone is neutral mark he is not disappointed he is not criticizing it is a neutral sentence he is just saying I have some friends Jane says I have few friends and few means a small number also but Jane is not satisfied with the number therefore few suggests that the small number is not enough so Jane is in fact disappointed with only having three friends it has a negative feeling there is a negative tone there for few suggests that Jane would prefer to have more friends okay so notice that both sentences are grammatically correct and also both sentences correctly describe the situation notice that mark and Jane have the same number of friends but the big difference is the difference in opinion and feeling so the difference is the point of view or the opinion this is more negative let's look at three examples example one mark says my manager sends me a few emails yesterday mark received three emails yesterday and this suggests that mark does not have a negative feeling about receiving three emails the tone is neutral and objective the meaning is simply my manager sent me some emails yesterday so there is no criticism there is no judgment there is no real opinion it is neutral Jane says my manager sent me few emails yesterday Jane also received three emails but few emails suggests that Jane was expecting more the tone is slightly negative so she is being slightly critical of her manager she was expecting to receive more than three emails example to the situation is mark and Jane are both journalists and they are each writing an article about a football player called Wayne Rooney Wayne Rooney is an English football player here he is so the situation is that ma si Wayne Rooney scored 12 goals last season that is the context so in Marc's article mark writes Rooney scored a few goals last season therefore this sentence is objective and neutral there is no judgment he is not criticizing Wayne Rooney Jane however writes Rooney scored few goals last season now this sentence suggests that Jane has a negative opinion she is slightly criticizing Wayne Rooney and maybe Jane thinks that 12 gold was not enough okay so both are grammatically correct and there is only one extra word here the word are but there is quite a big difference in tone and meaning example 3 sarah says i left school with a few qualifications this sentence is objective and neutral sarah seemed satisfied with her qualifications so here she is David however he says I left school with few qualifications now this sentence suggests that David has a negative opinion few qualifications is emphasizing the small number david is perhaps not satisfied with his qualifications countable and uncountable nouns it is important to know that we use a few and few only with countable nouns example I have a few tickets I have few tickets ticket is accountable now so both of these sentences are grammatically correct but we do not use a few and few with uncountable nouns so this is wrong I have a few water I have few water is also wrong water is an uncountable noun for uncountable nouns we use a little and little and I have made another video lesson about using a little and little with uncountable nouns so you can click here on the screen to start that video okay so there we are that is the end of the lesson here are some other videos which I think will help you to start the video simply click on the screen okay so my name is Andrew at Crown Academy of English thanks for watching I'll see you very soon bye bye

Channel: Crown Academy of English

Views: 107,668

Keywords: The difference between A FEW and FEW, What does few mean, what does a few mean, quantifiers English, countable nouns, uncountable nouns, countable and uncountable nouns, english vocabulary lesson, learn English grammar, English lessons, ESL, Crown Academy of English, English Language (Human Language), cours d'anglais

Id: iA4eIproIMM

Length: 10min 45sec (645 seconds)

Published: Mon Oct 17 2016