Few and A Few - Difference Between Few and A Few

Welcome to this video. Today you're going to learn the difference between few and a few. This is a question that a student submitted and it's a great question and I promise to make it easy for you. Of course, my name is Jennifer from JForrestEnglish.com and this channel is dedicated to helping you sound like a fluent, confident, natural English speaker. Now before we go any further, make sure you subscribe and hit that bell icon so you're notified every time I post a new lesson. Now let's dive in with this video. Today you're going to learn the difference between few and a few. So notice what's difference here is just the article a few. Now the difference in meaning between these two is subtle. Okay, so it's a small difference in meaning and a few is just more commonly used. So just keep that in mind. Now few without the article. This means a small quantity. So I could say few members of the committee were there. Few members. So this means that a small quantity of members were at the committee. It also means that the majority of the members were not at the committee. So keep that in mind. And when I say majority, I'm talking about 90 to 95 percent because few members would be, you know, 5 percent, 10 percent maximum. Few members of the committee were there. Now I could say a few members of the committee were there. A few, including the article. Now here's where it might seem confusing because the number of members is the same. When I say a few, it's still a small quantity of members. So what's the difference? The difference is on what you're emphasizing. When I say few members of the committee were there, I'm really emphasizing the lack of members. I'm emphasizing that the majority of the members weren't there. But when I say a few members of the committee were there, I'm emphasizing the number, although small, the number of the committee members that were there. So my focus is on the members that were there. So that's the difference. I know, very subtle, right? Maybe even hard to really understand it. But let me give you a simpler example that everybody can relate to. So let's say you're new in a city, okay? And because of that, you haven't met very many people yet. You can say, I have few friends in this city. Or you could say, I have a few friends in this city. So in both cases, we're talking about a small quantity, right? But think about how it's what you're emphasizing that's different and how this might change the emotion that you have about the statement. Because when I say I have few friends in this city, it's really emphasizing the lack of friends that I have. But when I say I have a few friends in the city, it's emphasizing the friends I have. Although it's a small number of friends, maybe only two or three, I still have two or three friends in the city. That's better than zero friends, right? So in the first example, it sounds a little more sad, because you're emphasizing lack. In the second example, it sounds a little more positive, because you're emphasizing what you have. So if it helps you to think of it like this, you can think of few as not many. I have few friends in the city. I don't have many friends in the city. But you can think of a few as some. I have a few friends in the city, two or three. I have some friends in the city. So they're more closely related, and they differ from few. So hopefully that will help you understand the meaning. And remember, it's a very subtle difference, but that article does make a difference. So now it's your turn to practice. I want you to leave two sentences in the comments below, one with few and one with a few. Remember, few, you're emphasizing the lack, but a few, you're emphasizing the small quantity that's there. If you found this video helpful, please hit the like button, share it with your friends and of course, subscribe. And until next time, happy studying. All right, awesome job with this video. Don't worry if you have to watch it a few more times, a few more times, two or three more times to understand that subtle difference, okay? And think about the example, seeing them side by side will really help you get the difference in meaning. So do your examples and put them in the comment section. And I'll see you in my next video. Bye.