few与a few 的用法区别
从用法上看,few和a few后面要接可数名词的复数形式;从意义上看,few 用来强调小数目的否定意义,相当于说“很少”或“几乎没有”,它的含义是该数目令人失望或令人吃惊的小。如:
Few people like snakes. 很少有人喜欢蛇。
I know few of them. 他们当中我几乎不认识什么人。
a few的意思与few不同,它没有否定含义,它表示“有几个”,有时甚至还表示“一些”。如:
After a few tries they gave up. 试过几次之后他们就放弃了。
当要与一段时间连用时,我们总是用a few,不用few。如:
We need a place where we can stay for a few days. 我们需要一个能住几天的地方。
另外,还要注意not a few和quite a few这两个短语,不要误认为它们是反义词,其实它们几乎是同义词,都可表示“不少”“相当多”的意思。如:
Not a few of the members were absent. 不少会员未出席。
Quite a few of us are worried. 我们不少人很着急。