Wednesday, July 3, 2013
Common Errors in English -2
28th June
Common Errors in English -2
‘A few’ and ‘A little’
I have seen advertisements that say, ‘Few seats available; rush’. What the advertiser means is , ‘A few seats’. When ‘A’ is added before ‘few’, it gets a positive meaning- 'ஒரு சில'/'कुछ '. But without 'A', 'few' means almost nil.
We can say,
'He is an introvert; he has few friends.'
What we mean is, he has hardly any friends.
When we make a positive statement, we can say,
'He has a few good friends; he need not worry.
In the same way, 'A little' has a positive meaning.
'I will make tea for you. There is a little milk.'
But when the milk is so little that one cannot make tea, one can say,
'Sorry. I can't make tea. There is little milk left.
P.S. I am very glad to receive many correct answers for , ‘Who is a lollipop lady?’
Question for today: ‘What are Kangaroo words?’
28th June
Common Errors in English -2
‘A few’ and ‘A little’
I have seen advertisements that say, ‘Few seats available; rush’. What the advertiser means is , ‘A few seats’. When ‘A’ is added before ‘few’, it gets a positive meaning- 'ஒரு சில'/'कुछ '. But without 'A', 'few' means almost nil.
We can say,
'He is an introvert; he has few friends.'
What we mean is, he has hardly any friends.
When we make a positive statement, we can say,
'He has a few good friends; he need not worry.
In the same way, 'A little' has a positive meaning.
'I will make tea for you. There is a little milk.'
But when the milk is so little that one cannot make tea, one can say,
'Sorry. I can't make tea. There is little milk left.
P.S. I am very glad to receive many correct answers for , ‘Who is a lollipop lady?’
Question for today: ‘What are Kangaroo words?’
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