Few and Little Negative Meaning Exercises

Few and little (without the article "a") carry a negative meaning — they emphasise that there is not enough of something. Few works with countable plural nouns: "Few people attended the meeting" means not many came, and the speaker thinks this is a problem. Little works with uncountable nouns: "There is little hope of finding survivors" means almost no hope remains. In both cases, the speaker's tone is one of disappointment, concern, or criticism.

The key to using "few" and "little" correctly is understanding that they function almost like negative words. "Few students passed the exam" is closer in meaning to "Not many students passed" than to "Some students passed." This is why "few" and "little" often appear with words like "very" for extra emphasis: "Very few people knew about the event" and "She showed very little interest in the offer." Adding "quite" before "a few" increases the amount: "quite a few" means "a surprisingly large number." This range from "very few" (almost none) through "few" (not enough) to "quite a few" (more than expected) is commonly tested in Cambridge B1 Preliminary reading and use-of-English tasks.