Learn the Rule! — FEW vs. LITTLE vs. A LITTLE

Do these still confuse you?

Well, if they do, don't worry.

Because in today's lesson, we are going to help you

to learn the differences between these different quantifiers

once and for all.

Plus, you'll learn a secret trick that I promise you very few people know about.

Because here at RealLife English,

every single week we make new lessons like this one.

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So first off, let's review some of the basics.

So you probably have already learned at some point that some words

in English are countable, while others are uncountable.

Now, countable words can be counted.

This is like the word apple.

One apple to apples, three apples, you see.

But other words, on the other hand, are uncountable.

They can't be counted like one money, two moneys.

See, that doesn't work.

But this might feel pretty frustrating because you might feel like, do I have to

memorize every single word that I learn is countable or uncountable?

There's some different tricks

that you can try to check so you can try to rely on your intuition.

You can think of, Can I count this word and see if it works or not?

If you're still not quite sure, then you can check a dictionary.

Most dictionaries will cite whether word is countable or uncountable.

Another thing you could check is if the word has a plural form,

because most words that have plural are countable like:

And you'll find that most products

that you buy in the supermarket, for example, are uncountable.

We tend to actually count the containers that these different products

come in and not the actual product itself.

So to give you an example, we could take milk.

Milk comes in a carton.

So we'd say that I need two cartons of milk, not I need two milks.

Let's take a look at some uncountable nouns

that learners often confuse as being countable.

So we have:

And even news isn't countable, even though it has an "s" at the end of it.

Pretty crazy, right?

But sometimes you might want to make these words countable, right?

So how can we do that?

Well, we can use a different word.

We could use, for example, the word "piece", which is countable

to make those other words countable.

So, for example, we could say I have two pieces of homework today.

Now let's review how to use the basic quantifiers.

And now let's test your current knowledge with some quiz questions.

Pretty easy, right?

But now let's try something different.

Now, if you weren't sure about these answers, don't worry.

It's because this is actually a pretty advanced use of these quantifiers.

So let's take a look at the chart again.

But with these extra words.

So let's talk about countable words first.

So if you want to express a large quantity of something,

one possibility is to use "so many" or "too many".

The difference here is in the connotation.

So, "so many" tends to have a positive connotation.

That means that there's a lot of something and I like it.

For example:

It's amazing.

On the other hand, "too many" has a negative connotation.

That means that there's a lot of something and I don't like it.

It's more than I need or it's excessive.

So, for example:

I don't think he can fit any more books in there.

You remember the example in the beginning of the video?

Yes, so last weekend was great.

I went to this party.

There were too many people there!

The confusion here happened because speaker one sounded really excited about the party.

But Speaker two was confused because he used the word "too",

which means that he wasn't so happy about it.

So there was a bit of a contradiction here.

That's why it's really important to be able to focus in

on these small details, because otherwise you risk being misunderstood.

The correct way here would have been:

Now compare it with this sentence.

See the difference? The same happens with uncountable words.

But then we use "so much" or "too much".

Check it out.

And the same happens when talking about small quantities.

This means that although I don't have a large quantity of apples,

the ones that I have in the basket are enough.

But let's contrast it with this sentence.

This means that the apples that I have are not enough.

I probably need to buy more. Got it?

Take a look at this example.

Notice that in this example, Thiago doesn't have a lot of time,

but it is enough to help me.

Let's contrast it to this example.

So now Tiago isn't available to help me because the time that he has

is not enough.

For the word's "few"

and "little", it's common to use very to emphasize the lack of something.

Check it out.

Pretty cool, isn't it?

But remember that the key to mastering nuances

like this in English is by using it when you speak.

And you can do exactly this with the RealLife App.

Check out what one of our users, Clyde, has to say about his experience.

So just like Clyde, you can improve your listening,

your vocabulary, your reading, and even your speaking.

And one of the best ways to improve your learning is actually by teaching it

to someone else.

So why not teach someone

in the app about these quantifiers that you've learned about today?

Because that's really going to etch them in your memory.

So if you want to give it a go, it's absolutely free.

You can download by clicking up here or down description below,

or you can search for RealLife English in your favorite app store.

Aww yeah!

All right, are you ready to test everything that you've been learning today?

So you are going to watch five different situations.

And in each one, you need to analyze whether the connotation is positive

or negative.

And then you'll fill in the blank

with one of the advanced quantifiers that we have seen today.

Are you ready?

Now, for the last three exercises,

choose the correct option based on the context

So did you do well in the test?

I want you to let me know down in the comments below.

What other grammar topics do you tend to find confusing?

Let us know, we might just make a lesson to help you out.

So that you can use your English more confidently

and become a more advanced English speaker. Aww Yeah!

So better understanding

language nuances like this is one of the ways to get more advanced English.

But did you know that there are several

other things that you need to do to break out of the intermediate level?

Well, check out this lesson where we will show you ten ways

to become a more advanced user of English.

Check it out.