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Choose the right word.
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I had little/a little time to spare, so I browsed round a bookshop.
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Help yourself to a biscuit. There are few/a few left in the tin.
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My days are so busy that I have little/a little time for relaxation.
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She is exceptionally generous. Few/a few people give more money to charity than she does.
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There is little/a little butter left, but not much.
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He keeps trying though he has little/a little chance of success.
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‘I’m afraid, you need few/ a few fillings’, said the dentist.
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He must have made a hundred clocks in his life, but few/a few of them ever worked properly.
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She wasn’t hungry. She just had few/a few spoonfuls of soup.
10.I can’t play tennis today. I have few/a few jobs to do around the house.
11.Help yourself to a whisky. There is still little/a little left.
12.Nowadays few/a few people have servants in their house.
13.I had little/a little time to catch the train, but I just made it.
14.I have few/a few friends that I can trust, but not many.
15.Don’t bother, little/a little depends on the outcome of the inquiry.
16.There are few/a few scholarships for students in this university.
17.If you don’t hurry, we’ll miss the train. There is little/a little time to spare.
18.It’s a difficult text. I’ve had to look up quite few/a few words in the dictionary.
19.I can’t spare any of these catalogues. There are only few/a few left.
20.I can’t let you use much of this perfume. There’s only little/a little in the bottle.
21.There are few/a few people who know about this, so keep it to yourself.
22.If what you say is true, there is little/a little we can do about it. We’d better give it up.
23.His ideas are difficult and few/a few people understand them.
24.His ideas are difficult but few/a few people understand them.
25.The average MP has little/a little real power.
26.We go to parties every weekend. We’ve got quite few/a few friends here.
27.She earns little/a little more than you because she does extra jobs at the office.
(from: Н.Н. Дианина. Дополнительные материалы к учебнику «New Headway Upper-intermediate». М., МГИМО, 2003.)
Article.
Explanations.
Basic uses of articles –see G2 p.138
Definite Article
• Classes
This is one way to refer to classes, and is perhaps more formal than using a plural:
The tiger is threatened with extinction.
Note: Nouns man, woman, child used in a generic sense (as a class) take no article!
We can’t be sure about the history of the human race, but man developed earlier than we think.
• National groups
Groups as a whole:
The French eat in restaurants more than the English.
Single examples are not formed in the same way:
A Frenchman/woman, an Englishman/woman.
• Other groups
If these are clearly plural:
the Social Democrats, The Rolling Stones
Note the difference:
Pink Floyd, Queen (no article)
• Unique objects
the moon, the sun
Note that there are other suns and moons in the universe.
This planet has a small moon.
• Titles
These tend to be 'unique'.
The director of studies
If the title is post-modified (has a description coming after the noun), the is more likely, but not essential. Compare:
She became President in 1998.
She became (the) President of the United States in 1998.
• Newspapers
The may be part of the title, and so is capitalised.
The Independent, The Sunday Times
Note that titles of magazines normally take no article: Punch, Time
However, there are many exceptions: The Economist, The New Yorker, so they must be learned.
• Musical instruments
Jane plays the flute.
The guitar is my favourite instrument.
It is, of course, still possible to use a where it would naturally be used.
There was a small brown flute in the window of the shop.
• Emphatic use
This is heavily stressed and emphasises the following noun.
This hotel is the place to stay.
• Geographical names
The following use the:
Rivers: the Thames
Mountain ranges: the Alps
Oceans: the Mediterranean
Unique features: the Channel, the Arctic
Compass points/areas: the East, the Middle East
Countries: collective or plural: The United Kingdom, The Netherlands
This does not apply to:
Mountain peaks: Everest (but The Matterhorn)
Continents: Asia
Countries: France
The definite article is sometimes used before Lebanon and Gambia:
The Lebanon The Gambia
• Place names
Post-modification, especially with ...of... plays a role in place names.
Compare:
Leeds University/The University of Leeds
London Bridge/The Tower of London
If the first part of a place-name is another name, then normal rules about zero article apply.
Brown's Restaurant
The Garden House Hotel
The same applies in geographical names:
Canvey Island
The Isle of Man
• Most and the most
Most hotels in England are very expensive, (making a generalisation)
This is the most expensive hotel in town, (talking about a specific hotel)
• Importance of context
The definite article refers to already mentioned items, and so its use depends on context.
The Smiths had a son and a daughter. The son was in the Army and the daughter was training to be a doctor.
On the Saturday, there was a terrible storm.
Here, the Saturday refers to a day in an area of time already mentioned.
On the Saturday of that week ...