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Week 3 Handouts
Week 3 Handouts
Lesson No: 38 Correct Usage of Some Adjectives "Little", "A Little" "'The Little"
HANDOUTS
Lesson No: 37 Correct Usage of Some Adjectives "Each", "Every"
Use “each” when you want to refer to an individual thing (in a group or a list) or two or more things. It is
often similar in meaning to every, but we use “every” to refer to three or more things.
We tend to use each when we are thinking or talking about the items individually and use every when we
are thinking of them collectively.
For example:
We use adverbs such as almost, practically, and nearly with “every”, but NOT with “each”.
When ‘little’ is used, it means hardly any or minute amount. For example, “There is little hope that the patient
will survive.” Here, ‘little’ means that there’s hardly any hope that the patient will survive.
But if one uses ‘a little’ in a sentence, it means some or a small quantity. So if we use a little’ in the same
example, i.e. “There is a little hope that the patient will survive.” Then it means there’s some chance or a small
chance that the patient might survive.
While ‘The little’ is used in the sense of ‘not much, but all there is/ ‘the amount is small but all’/ ‘the small
amount or quantity, but all’ before a singular uncountable noun to express quantity. It has both positive and
negative meanings.
> It means not much. > It means some but less amount.
> It has a negative connotation. > It has a positive connotation.
Example: Example:
There is little coffee in the cup. There is a little coffee in the cup.
(It means that there is no coffee in the (There is some coffee in the cup.)
cup.)
The Little
Example:
When ‘little’ is used, it means hardly any or minute amount. For example, “There is little hope that the patient
will survive.” Here, ‘little’ means that there’s hardly any hope that the patient will survive.
But if one uses ‘a little’ in a sentence, it means some or small quantity. So if we use ‘a little’ in the same example,
i.e. “There is a little hope that the patient will survive.” Then it means there’s some chance or small chance that the
patient might survive.
While ‘The little’ is used in the sense of ‘not much, but all there is’/ ‘the amount is small but all’/ ‘the small
amount or quantity, but all’ before singular uncountable noun to express quantity. It has both positive and negative
meanings.
Little A Little
> It means not much. > It means some but less amount.
> It has a negative connotation. > It has a positive connotation.
Example: Example:
There is little coffee in the cup. There is a little coffee in the cup.
(It means that there is no coffee in the (There is some coffee in the cup.)
cup.)
The Little
Example:
The few has a double force, one negative and the other positive.
It means “not many, but all that there are”.
For Example:
The few friends I had, left me' means.
I had not many friends, but I had some and they all left me.
Summary Table
Few A Few The Few
Meaning Small number of something Some Not many
Example I have few friends. I have a few friends. The few public parks that
we have are not well
maintained.
Explanation It implies that I don’t have a It implies I have Not Many, but some public
lot of friends and I am some friends speakers
probably lonely. Also note, it
may also exhibit a negative
sentiment or meaning in
some cases.
HANDOUTS
Lesson No: 40 Parts of Speech: Introduction to Adverbs
Adverbs
An adverb is a word that modifies
• A verb (e.g. She sings loudly),
• An adjective (e.g. Very tall),
• Another adverb (e.g. ended too quickly), or
• A whole sentence (e.g. Fortunately, I had brought an umbrella).
Adverbs often end in -ly, but some (such as fast) look exactly the same as their adjective counterparts.
Placement of adverbs
Place adverbs as close as possible to the words they are supposed to modify. Putting the adverb in the
wrong spot can produce an awkward sentence at best and completely change the meaning at worst.