A few vs few What's the difference?

Way back in 2009 I did a lesson about countable & uncountable nouns today we're gonna look into the difference between a few & few. Both of these are used with countable nouns. HOWEVER, they have a different emphasis.

a few

This is POSITIVE you are stressing that you don't have a lot but you're happy you have a small amount of something.

I'm happy I have a few good friends like you guys.

Do you have a few minutes? I'd like to ask you a question.

On Thanksgiving, when I went to the supermarkets they had a few cans of cranberries left! I got lucky!

Pick up a few beers on your way home.

few

This is NEGATIVE, you're stressing that you're unhappy with how little you have of something.

I have few friends in Kyoto, it sucks.

Few people came to my birthday party, it was a real disappointment.

I got few presents last Christmas.

It's important to note that this usage sounds a bit old fashioned. Nowadays, people are more like to just use a negative sentence.

I don't have many friends in Kyoto, it sucks.

Not many people came to my birthday party, it was really disappointing.

I didn't get many presents last Christmas.

Now if you want to make similar sentences for UNCOUNTABLE nouns use a little and little.

a little

Yeah, I have a little time right now so we can talk if you like.

I had a little extra money left over at the end of the month so I was happy.

Can I have a little water?

little

Hurry up! There's little time left before the dealine.

After finishing our Christmas shopping we had little money left.

A beach with little sand isn't so nice.

Again just like few, little also sounds old fashioned. Any questions?

Phil

It's a ten minute walk.

Today, we will talk about how far your house is from the nearest subway/train station. In North America, this is not so useful because people use their cars to go everywhere but in Europe, trains and subways are common. They are also common on the East coast of the U.S. and in Central Canada(Ontario and Quebec). You can also use these structures to talk about how long it takes to walk somewhere.

The first structure we use when talking about how long it takes to walk somewhere is:

on foot or sometimes by foot

I think on foot is much more natural but both are grammatically correct. These days, on foot is used more often...

A: Where do you live?

B: I live in Kyoto.

A: How long does it take you to get to the nearest station?

B: It takes about 10 minuteS on foot (by foot).

The second structure you can use to answer this questions is a noun phrase. This is like in Japanese when you use の to nominalize verbs.

私は読むのが好きです。
Watashi wa yomu no ga suki desu.
I like reading.

So if you want to use a noun phrase, you say:

It's a ten minute walk.

You can see here there is no S, this is because it is a noun phrase "A ten minute walk" so it is treated as a noun, for example like "a banana".

Have a good week~!

Phil

Countable? Uncountable?

Hey everyone, today I will talk a bit about countable and uncountable nouns. Usually, countable nouns are things you can physically count easily. For example; cars, apples, bananas, pens, books,etc.

Uncountable nouns are usually abstract concepts(love, art, photography) or things you can't easily count. For example; liquids(beer, coffee, wine), sand, grass, etc.

When you are speaking in GENERAL, you MUST add S to COUNTABLE nouns.

I like pineapples.

I like girls.

Uncountable nouns DO NOT need S.

I like reading.

I like beer.

Be careful!!! If you add an S to an uncountable noun you will change the meaning~!

Some teachers might say you are saying something grammatically incorrect, this is not true. The grammar is fine but the meaning has changed...

Example 1:

There are many people in the room=There are many humans in the room.

There are many peoples in the room=There are different ethnic groups in the room.

So, people means more than one person BUT peoples means more than one ethnic group. This is why the second sentence sounds strange, we would normally say "There are many peoples in Asia" not in a room! hahaha

Ethnic group=Ainu, Indian, French, Tutsi, Inuit, etc.

Example 2:

I like chickens=I like the animal.

I like chicken=I like the meat.

Animals are countable BUT meat is uncountable. So BE CAREFUL!

If you say, I like dog, it means you like to eat dog meat!!!