‘Few’ or ‘a few’: what is the difference?
Have a look at this headline from a law firm’s newsletter*:
There are few simple and concrete answers to employers on managing the COVID-19 crisis.
‘Few’ means ‘not many’. So the meaning of this sentence is that there are not many simple and concrete answers that this law firm can give to employers on managing the COVID-19 crisis. This could be true: the situation is constantly evolving and so it is perhaps not easy to give concrete advice.
However, this is not what the law firm meant. Have a look at the headline from the same law firm’s French newsletter:
Quelques réponses simples et concrètes aux employeurs sur la gestion de la crise du Covid-19.
‘Quelques’ means ‘some’ or ‘a few’. So the meaning of the French sentence is that the law firm wants to give some simple and concrete answers to employers. This is a much more positive message than the English version.
What is the difference?
The author or translator of the newsletter has confused ‘few’ and ‘a few’
Few means not many. It gives a negative sense to the sentence. For example: she has few friends means that she does not have many friends. To add emphasis, you can say: she has very few friends which means that she really does not have many friends at all.
A few means some or a small number. It gives a positive sense to the sentence. For example: she has a few friends means that she has some friends. To indicate a bigger number of friends, you could say: she has quite a few friends
Why does it matter?
Think about the message that you want to give to your clients. If you say ‘there are few answers’, you are giving a pessimistic impression that there is not a lot of advice you can give. If you say ‘there are a few answers’, you are giving a more positive impression that there are some solutions for the client.
And remember...
We only use ‘few’ and ‘a few’ with countable nouns: she has few friends, she has a few friends. With uncountable nouns, we use ‘little’ and ‘a little’: she has little information about COVID-19 (she does not have much information about it), she has a little information about COVID-19 (she has some information about it).
*This headline appeared recently in Lexology: https://www.lexology.com/