Shema who has been in the school for the past one year has made few friends in a span of one year. Ashley who joined school just three days back has made a few friends already.
Who do you think is more outgoing? Ashley, of course.
Shema making few friends in one year, emphasises the fact that she has hardly made any friends in one year’s time. And Ashley making a few friends in just three days indicates that she is the more outgoing type. Got it?
Two or three?
So here we come to the subtle difference between the adjectives few and a few .
The word few means not many/ none while a few means two or three(less in number).
The sentence Mary has made few mistakes in her life means she has not made many mistakes in her life. She is diligent and hardly makes mistakes. That sounds positive.
However, if Mary had made a few mistakes in her life, then it means that she has made some mistakes. This sounds more negative, doesn’t it?
So that little a does make a huge difference, indeed!
