Daily Grammar – Week 13

DAILY GRAMMAR (DG) 29-05-2018

1a. Shade speaks Hausa, Igbo, Yoruba, English and French; only a few Nigerians can do that. (No)

Shade speaks Hausa, Igbo, Yoruba, English and French; only few Nigerians can do that. (Yes).

1b. My friend has been there few times without meeting the Chairman. (No)

My friend has been there a few times without meeting the Chairman. (Yes)

(“Few”, used with plural countable nouns, means “not many; not enough”. It usually conveys a negative idea. For example, “he has few good friends” means he doesn’t have enough of them. “A few”, also used with plural countable nouns, means “some” or “small amount” and it usually conveys a positive idea. For example, “he has won a few awards”.)

2a. They live in a small house because they have a little money. (No)

They live in a small house because they have little money. (Yes)

2b. He has little time to rest these days. (No)

He has a little time to rest these days. (Yes)

(“Little”, used with uncountable nouns, means “not much; not enough”. It conveys a negative idea. For example, “I have little time for haters.” “A little”, also used with uncountable nouns, means “small; a small amount”. It conveys a positive idea. For example, “he a little time these days to socialise with family and friends”. Note that “few” and “little” usually have negative meanings while “a little” and “a few” usually have positive meanings.)

3a. What he said didn’t make many sense to me. (No)

What he said didn’t make much sense to me. (Yes)

3b. Busy people don’t have much friends. (No)

Busy people don’t have many friends. (Yes)

3c. As a good footballer, he has a lot of fans. (Yes – formal)

As a good footballer, he has lots of fans. (Yes – informal)

3d. There is a lot of traffic today. (Yes – formal)

There are lots of traffic today. (Yes – informal)

(“Much” and “many” are mainly used in negative sentences. Though they are not usually used in affirmative sentences, they may still be so used on rare occasions. While “much” is used with uncountable nouns, “many” is used with countable nouns. “A lot of” is usually used, instead of “much” and “many”, for affirmative sentences with both countable and uncountable nouns.)

Did You Know?

The part of a wall between two windows is called “interfenestration”.