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  • Hi. I'm Rebecca from engVid, and this is a grammar lesson. Now, this lesson will help

  • you to speak and to write more correctly in

  • English. What we're going to do today is we're

  • focusing on the difference between the two very

  • commonly confused words "few" and "little".

  • We're going to learn the difference between these two words, right, "few" and "little",

  • but we're also going to take it a step higher

  • to a more advanced level, and we're going

  • to learn the difference between "few" and "a

  • few", and "little" and "a little", because

  • if you didn't know that there's a difference,

  • you might be surprised to learn that there

  • is a big difference, alright? So, you will

  • learn all of that in this lesson, and it will

  • help you to make fewer mistakes when you're

  • communicating in English. So, let's get started.

  • So, first of all, what we need to understand

  • when we're talking about these words, "few"

  • and "little", is we need to understand the concept or the idea, which I hope that you

  • have learned already, about countable nouns and uncountable nouns. Now, in this lesson,

  • I'm not going to explain in detail about the

  • countable and uncountable nouns if you're

  • not sure what those are, then please check

  • another lesson, other lessons of mine, which

  • I have explained that in great detail. Go

  • back and watch that, but you can still watch

  • this here, because I'm going to give you a

  • basic explanation right now, but if you want

  • to be 100% sure, you can check my previous lessons, and you can also check a resource

  • that I've written specifically about countable

  • and uncountable nouns, which will really help

  • you to understand very, very clearly, because

  • lots and lots of mistakes are made over this

  • simple point of countable and uncountable nouns.

  • So, what is a countable noun? A noun, first of all, in this case, we're talking about

  • a person, place, or thing, or idea, or event.

  • Okay? Usually, people say a person, place,

  • or thing. If these are nouns, things that we can count, then we call them countable

  • nouns. For example, chairs, right? We can say

  • one chair, two chairs. And if we're talking

  • about people, places, or things that we cannot

  • count as such, or in English, are considered

  • something that we cannot count, then those are called uncountable nouns. For example,

  • furniture. Okay? So, we can say one chair and two chairs, but we cannot say the same

  • for furniture. Furniture just stays furniture.

  • You don't add an "s" at any time. It represents

  • that group. Okay? All right.

  • So, now, let's understand the difference between

  • "few" and "little" and how they work. So,

  • the word "few", first of all, means a little

  • bit. Okay? It means not too many, but it's

  • used for things which we can count. And "little"

  • is like this, right? A little. So, those are

  • used with the uncountable nouns. So, we would say,

  • for example, few chairs, but little furniture.

  • We would say a few computers. I have a few

  • computers in the office. And I have a little

  • equipment in my office. Now, right now, I'm not explaining yet the difference between

  • "few" and "a few" and "little" and "a little".

  • We will get to that, but first, let's just

  • understand this difference between when we use "few" and when we use "little". "Few"

  • is with anything we can count. "Little" is with anything we cannot count. Okay? So, we

  • say a few reports. I have to complete a few

  • reports. Or I need a little information. Reports,

  • we can count. Information, in English, we cannot count. We cannot add an "s" there to

  • any of these words. Okay? Next, I have a few

  • assignments to complete. Or I have a little

  • homework. We cannot add an "s" there. Okay? So, first and foremost, make sure that you

  • know the difference between the countable

  • nouns and the uncountable nouns. Know, second,

  • that we use "few" or "a few" with the countable

  • nouns, and we use "little" and "a little"

  • with the uncountable nouns. Okay? Got that?

  • Now, let's move to the next stage and understand

  • the difference between "few" and "a few" and

  • "little" and "a little". Okay. So, let's start

  • by looking first at the difference between

  • "a few" and "few". In this case, that little

  • word "a" makes a big difference. Let's understand

  • what that difference is. Okay? So, first of

  • all, if I'm saying "a few", it just means "some", a small number. Okay? And we said

  • that this is for... This is all with countable

  • nouns. Right? But if I say just "few", then

  • it means not enough, not many. Okay? Now, let's understand what that means. As soon

  • as you see the examples, you'll understand exactly what I mean. Let's start with the

  • first one. Okay? So, if I say "He has a few friends", what does it mean? He has a few

  • friends, he has some friends, he has a small

  • number of friends, but he's good with that,

  • he's happy. All right? He has a few friends,

  • nothing wrong. But if I say "He has few friends",

  • that actually means the opposite. It means the

  • way he feels, he doesn't have enough friends,

  • he wishes he had more friends. You understand?

  • It means not many, not enough, that's the

  • idea there. So, here, when we said "He has few

  • friends", that becomes an unhappy situation,

  • a negative. Here, he has a few friends, it's

  • a positive. Here, he has few friends, it's

  • a negative. Okay? So, you see how that little

  • word "a" can make such a big difference with

  • a few and also, as we're going to see in a few minutes, a little. Okay? But let's stay

  • here first. Let's look at another example. If I say "I have a few ideas", it means I

  • have some ideas. That's a positive, I'm happy.

  • Okay? But if I say "Oh, I don't know what

  • to do, I have few ideas", that's a negative because I wish I had more ideas. Right? I

  • don't have... I feel like I don't have enough

  • ideas, there's not many here, and I wish I

  • had more. Okay? See how the difference... See the difference there? Now it becomes a

  • negative. I have a few ideas, I'm happy. I have few ideas, I'm unhappy. Okay?

  • Alright, let's look at some more examples.

  • Now, these were with kind of, like, positive

  • words. Now let's look at what happens when

  • we're talking about words which are themselves

  • a little bit negative. Okay? Now we're getting

  • very nuanced and detailed. Let's understand.

  • If I say "He has a few problems", has some problems. Okay? But "problems" itself is a

  • negative word, so if I say "He has a few problems", that's not a good thing, that's

  • kind of like a sad thing, let's say, or negative

  • thing. Okay? "He has a few problems" is a

  • negative thing. But now look what happens.

  • Look at the magic here. If I say "He has few

  • problems", that means he doesn't have that many. That suddenly becomes a good thing.

  • Okay? He has few problems. Everything's alright

  • with him. Okay? So here, "few problems" became

  • a positive, but if I said "He has a few problems",

  • that becomes a negative. So it also depends

  • which word we're putting after "a few" and

  • "few". If it's kind of like a positive word,

  • then it has one meaning. If it's kind of like a

  • negative word, then it has a different meaning.

  • Let's take another example. If I say "He made

  • a few mistakes", okay? That's not good, it's

  • never great to make mistakes, so that's kind

  • of like a negative, right? See the frowny

  • face there. Okay? "He made a few mistakes",

  • he made some mistakes. But if I say "He made

  • few mistakes in his homework" or in his report,

  • that's a good thing. That means not very many.

  • Okay? Not many. So this becomes a positive. Do you see the difference between "a few"

  • and "few"? Do you see the difference in meaning?

  • Okay? So, again, let's just take the first

  • example. If I say "I have a few friends",

  • that's a good thing, I'm happy. But if I say

  • "I have few friends", I don't have enough. I wish I had more. Okay? Try it out, think

  • it through, write for yourself just now, or think for yourself, write a sentence about

  • yourself and say "I have a few something", even about friends, or "Do you have a few

  • friends?" or "Do you have few friends?" Do

  • you have a few? Did you make a few mistakes?

  • Or did you make few mistakes? Okay? Write something about yourself to sort of really

  • lock in the understanding of this word. Now,

  • let's look at "little" and "a little". It

  • works the same way.

  • So, now, let's just review. "A little" or

  • "little", we use with what? Uncountable nouns.

  • Okay? So, let's look at how that works. "A little" means some or a small amount, and

  • "little" means not enough or not much. Let's

  • look at the example so we understand clearly.

  • Okay? So, if I say "I have a little time before

  • my flight", that's a positive thing. So, "I

  • have a little time before my flight, I'm going

  • to get something to eat." Alright? That's

  • a positive thing. But if I say "I have little

  • time before my flight, I don't have time to

  • get anything to eat." Okay? That's a negative

  • thing. That means I have not enough time.

  • Okay? So, you see the difference there. "A little" is just like a neutral statement.

  • Alright? But this is usually something a little bit different.

  • Let's look at another example. "I had a little

  • sleep last night. I'm feeling better now."

  • That's a positive. But "I had little sleep last night. I'm so tired." Okay? So, this

  • becomes a negative, and again, "little" means

  • not enough in this case. And here, it just

  • means I had some sleep. It's fine. Everything's okay. Alright.

  • Now let's look when... What happens when the nouns

  • are actually a little bit negative themselves.

  • So, for example, "He had a little trouble

  • with his car." Okay? That's not a good thing.

  • Right? So he's not too happy there. You can see

  • that. But he has... "He's had little trouble

  • with his car since he bought it." That's a

  • good thing. Okay? He didn't have much trouble.

  • Let's look at another example. "She has a

  • little anger towards him." That's a negative.

  • Alright? "She has a little anger", she has some

  • anger, a small amount of anger towards him.

  • But if I said, "She has little anger towards

  • him", it's okay. She got over it. That means

  • she doesn't have much anger towards him. Okay?

  • So now you see that these words, "a little"

  • and "little" can have such a difference in

  • meaning. Right? And I hope that you're getting

  • it and understanding it and absorbing it. If you need to, you know, go back, watch it

  • again until it really sinks in and you get it. But now what we're going to do is we're

  • going to practice with a few examples and putting these words into sentences so that

  • they make sense. Let's do that.

  • Okay, so now let's practice together and apply

  • what you have learned so far. Okay? I'm going

  • to do it with you. No worries. Okay? So, we have eight sentences on the board. In the

  • first four, you have to add either "a few" or "few" because here we're talking about

  • countable things. And in the last four, you're

  • going to add "a little" or "little" because

  • here we're talking about uncountable things. Alright? Okay, so let's begin.

  • Now, what I've also done, you'll probably see all these faces here. Right? And some

  • are smiley faces and some are not. Some are

  • the opposite. So, when you see a smiley face,

  • you're going to say something positive. So,

  • for example, whenever there's a smiley face,

  • I'm going to say "fortunately" because in English, whenever we give some good news,

  • we say "fortunately". When we give some bad news, we say "unfortunately". Okay? Say it

  • after me. Fortunately. Unfortunately. Okay? Good.

  • So, let's get started. So, here, "Fortunately,

  • there were _______ doctors who could help us." Which one would you say? "Fortunately,

  • there were _______ doctors who could help us."

  • Okay? This is a good thing. Now, negative.

  • "Unfortunately, there were _______ doctors who

  • could help us." So, here, we're going to say

  • the opposite. "Unfortunately, there were few

  • doctors who could help us." So, when we said

  • there were a few doctors who could help us, we

  • were saying, oh, it's good. There are a few...

  • There are some doctors who can help us. When we

  • said there were few doctors who could help us,

  • it means there were not many doctors who could help

  • us. Okay? So, one is positive, one is negative.

  • And therefore, we're using "a few" or "few".

  • Next. This is not a happy situation, so we say,

  • "Unfortunately, we've had _______ issues with our computers." Let's see.

  • "Unfortunately, we've had a few issues with our computers." That's a good thing.

  • Oh, sorry. That's a bad thing. Right? "We've had

  • a few issues with our computers." That's not good.

  • You don't want to have a few issues with your

  • computers. Now, positive. "Fortunately, we've had..."

  • It's going to be the opposite. "Fortunately,

  • we've had few issues." Okay? "With our computers."

  • And that one means that's good. We didn't have

  • too many problems with our computers. Okay?

  • Alright. I hope you're still with me. Stay with

  • me. You will get it. Okay. Next, "a little" and

  • "little". So, let's say you're a French speaker,

  • and you're somewhere where they don't... Where

  • everybody speaks English, but you're really

  • looking for someone who speaks French. Okay?

  • And you meet some people, but then you... And you

  • say, "Okay. Fortunately, they speak _______ French."

  • You're happy. So, you say, "Fortunately, they

  • speak _______ French." Good. But then, the other

  • side, you could say, "Unfortunately, they don't

  • speak enough French." So, how do we say that?

  • "Unfortunately, they speak _______ French." Okay? Alright. Next, this is a good thing.

  • "Fortunately, she's made _______ progress." This is good. "Fortunately, she's made

  • _______ progress." Okay? And the last one, which is a negative, "Unfortunately",

  • you want to say here, "She hasn't made

  • enough progress." So, we say, "Unfortunately,

  • she's made _______ progress." Right? "_______

  • progress." Okay? What is "progress"? "Progress"

  • means moving forward. Now, you have made a lot of

  • progress. Okay? Today, by watching this lesson,

  • I really congratulate you. This is an advanced

  • lesson as far as this part goes. Okay? That first

  • part about countable, uncountable, that's pretty

  • basic. That's sort of a beginner and intermediate

  • point. But these are advanced points, so if you've

  • got it, that's amazing. It's going to make a

  • tremendous difference in your English. What could you

  • do now? Well, go to our website at www.engvid.com.

  • There, you can do a quiz and really review and

  • master this part. Okay? Next, subscribe to my

  • YouTube channel so you can continue to get lots

  • of interesting lessons like this that will help

  • you to improve your English level. And a third

  • thing you can do is check out my English course,

  • "Correct Your English Errors in 10 Minutes a Day",

  • and there, you'll find lots of points like this,

  • similar to this. Okay? Some are easier, some are

  • a little bit harder, and they... By making those

  • little corrections, your English will change

  • completely in a very easy, quick way because

  • the lessons are really short, just 10 minutes

  • a day. Okay? Thanks very much for watching,

  • and all the best with your English. Bye for now.

Hi. I'm Rebecca from engVid, and this is a grammar lesson. Now, this lesson will help

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