few
part of speech
adjective, determiner, pronoun (few, fewer, fewest; a few)
meaning for a pupil
1) Few means not many: few people came. tree →
2) «A few» means a small number, some: I have a few sweets. tree →
3) Fewer means a smaller number than another; fewest means the smallest number of all. tree →
sense in the lessons
Interpretation: Moses prays that Reuben's men will not become few. Tradition notes Israel's small number as a sign that its strength comes from God and not from size. In the primary lessons: in «how many fewer … than» the difference between two amounts (subtract the smaller from the bigger); «4 fewer than 11» = 11 − 4; in everyday life «a few minutes», «quite a few» (many); in science «few animals live in the desert»
examples
- Let Reuben live, and not die in that his men become few. (Torah DEU.33.6, JPS 1917) tree →
- and tarry with him a few days, until thy brother's fury turn away; (Torah GEN.27.44, JPS 1917) tree →
- And Jacob served seven years for Rachel; and they seemed unto him but a few days, for the love he had to her. (Torah GEN.29.20, JPS 1917) tree →
- Yea, very few, and sojourners in it, (Writings PSA.105.12, JPS 1917) tree →
- When they were but a few men in number. (Writings PSA.105.12, JPS 1917) tree →
- Let his days be few; let another take his charge. (Writings PSA.109.8, JPS 1917) tree →
- A box has 20 balloons and a bag has 19 balloons. How many fewer balloons are in the bag than in the box? tree →
- Tom has 4 fewer pens than Lisa. Lisa has 11 pens. tree →
- Ann has a few stamps. tree →
- Wait a few minutes, please. tree →
- Few people swim in the sea in winter. tree →
- Our team scored fewer goals than theirs. tree →
- Which class has the fewest books? tree →
- I have a few friends on my street. tree →
- In a few minutes they were ready. tree →
note
«fewer … than» asks for a difference: subtract the smaller from the bigger. Trap: «Tom has 4 fewer than Lisa» with Lisa's amount given asks for Tom's: subtract 4 from Lisa's. «Few» goes with things you can count (few apples); «little» and «less» with things you cannot count (little water). «Few» sounds sad (not enough); «a few» sounds neutral (some).
In the corpora
- and tarry with him a few days, until thy brother's fury turn away;
- Let Reuben live, and not die in that his men become few.
- Then he said: 'Go, borrow thee vessels abroad of all thy neighbours, even empty vessels; borrow not a few.
- And the remnant of the trees of his forest shall be few, that a child may write them down.
- Thou shalt also take thereof a few by number, and bind them in thy skirts.
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «few» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.