Местоимения little, few

Местоимения little, few употребляются как в качестве местоимений-прилагательных так и местоимений-существительных:

1. Little, few в качестве местоимений-прилагательных употребляются со значением мало. Little употребляется перед неисчисляемыми существительными, а few перед исчисляемыми:

e.g. I have very little time. – У меня очень мало времени.

There were very little people there. – Там было очень мало народу.

2. Little, few в качестве местоимений-существительных употребляются со значением: little – мало, немногое; few – немногие:

e.g. Little has been said about it. – Об этом сказано мало.

Many people were invited but few came. – Много народу было приглашено, но немногие пришли.

Little и few могут употребляться с артиклем a – a little - немного, a few - несколько, немного:

e.g. Please give me a little water. – Дайте мне, пожалуйста, немного воды.

I have a few books on this subject. – У меня есть несколько (немного) книг по этому вопросу.

A little – немного и a few – немного, несколько употребляются в смысле некоторое, хотя и небольшое количество, в то время как little, few – мало употребляются в смысле недостаточно, почти нет:

e.g. I’ve got a little time. – У меня есть немного времени.

I’ve got little time. – У меня мало (недостаточно) времени.

He has a few friends. – У него есть несколько друзей.

He has few friends. – У него мало (почти нет) друзей.

 

I. Conjugate the following verbs in Present Continuous Tense:

to work, to answer, to make, to look, to translate, to read.

 

II. Comment on the use of Present Continuous Tense:

1. I am reading a trade magazine now. 2. What are you doing? 3. Can’t you see he is laughing at you? 4. He is going back to America. 5. Nick is spelling some new words now. 6. John is listened to the radio at the moment. 7. I am writing a massage now. 8. John and David are discussing a new text now. 9. They are leaving for Odessa tomorrow. 10. We are listening to our lecturer at the moment.

 

III. Make the following sentences interrogative then negative:

1. They are having a lesson now. 2. He is reading the article about ecological problems of the country. 3. My parents are working in the garden. 4. We are doing an exercise now. 5. My friend is playing football now. 6. They are reading an additional text at the moment.

 

IV. Open the brackets using the verbs in Present Continuous Tense:

1. I (not to read) now. 2. I (to write) an exercise now. 3. His father (not to watch) TV at the moment. 4. I (not to drink) coffee in the evening. 5. Your friend (to do) his home work now. 6. Who (to make) breakfast for you now? 7. You (to read) the magazine at the moment? 8. What she (to talk) about right now? 9. The students (to write) new grammar material at the moment. 10. A Monitor (to answer) teacher’s questions.

 

V. Build up two columns with the following adverbs according to the time:

Most of the time – at present – sometimes – now – every day – these days – how often – usually – nowadays – always – every now and then – just – often – currently – never – right now – once or twice a month – not often – at the moment – meanwhile – still.

e.g.

Present Simple Tense	Present Continuous Tense
always	now

 

VI. Open the brackets using the verbs in Present Simple or Present Continuous:

1. I (to take) my sister to school now. I (to take) her to school every day.

2. I (to read) now. I (to read) every day.

3. They (to go) to the university now. They (to go) to the university every morning.

4. The students (to make) exercise at the moment. The students (to make) exercises every lesson.

5. Some students (to look) through their notes now. The students (to look) through their notes before lessons.

6. My friend (to revise) grammar rules now. My friend always (to revise) grammar rules.

7. Today we (to go) to have a test in grammar. We (write) grammar tests at the end of each term.

8. They (to speak) English now? What language they usually (to speak)?

9. Is English a special subject at your university? – Yes, that’s why we (to want) to master English.

10. What language our seamen (to speak) in the foreign ports? – They usually (to speak) English.

 

VII. Put questions to the underlined words:

1. The students of our group are having an English lesson now. 2. They have two English lessons a week. 3. He is speaking to the dean. 4. There are 15 students in the laboratory. 5. Popov and Smirnov are listening to the tape-recorder. 6. He is going to enter our college. 7. He is reporting to the teacher now.

VIII. Translate the following sentences from Russian into English:

1. У нас уроки английского языка дважды в неделю. 2. Вы говорите по-английски? – Да, немного. 3. Какой язык вы изучаете? 4. На каком языке вы сейчас говорите? 5. Кого Вы ждете? – Мы ждем своего преподавателя. 6. Сейчас 8 часов утра, наш преподаватель входит в аудиторию. 7. Мы переводим текст о вреде курения в данный момент. 8. Студенты нашей группы слушают сейчас доклад Смирнова. 9. Что вы сейчас делаете? – Мы обсуждаем проблемы высшего образования.

 

IX. Fill in the blanks using much or many:

1. Mary must not eat too … salt because she has problems with her blood pressure. 2. There are … lecturers at our university, and … of them are women. 3. … of her advice was useful. 4. She wrote us … letters from London. 5. … of these students don’t like to look up words in the dictionary. 6. … in this work was too difficult for me. 7…. of their conversation was about the institute. 8. How … universities are there in your town? 9. There are … many canning factories in our town. 10. There are … interesting books here. I would like to buy this one. How … is it?

 

X. Fill in the blanks using little or few:

1. He has got … friends. 2. We must hurry. We’ve got very … time. 3. There are very … scholarships for students in this university. 4. I have … time, so I can’t go with you. 5. He has … English books. 6. There is … ink in my pen. 7. There was too … light in the room, and I could not read. 8. There are very … people who don’t know that the Earth is round.

 

XI. Translate into English the following word combinations using little (a little), few (a few):

Немного денег, мало денег, немного воды, несколько человек, мало воздуха, мало парт, несколько минут, несколько дней, мало работы, немного соли. Мало света, мало окон, несколько машин.

 

XII. Fill in the blanks using much, many, little (a little), few (a few):

1. When we walked … father down the road, we met another group of students. 2. Have you got … ink in your pen? 3. At the conference we met … people whom we knew well. 4. There are very … old buildings left in our street. Most of them have already been pulled down. 5. If you have … spare time, look through this book. You will find … stories there which are rather interesting. 6. There are … things here which I cannot understand. 7. Shall I bring … more chalk? – No, thank you. There is … chalk on the desk. I hope that will be enough for our lesson. 8. He had … English books at home, so he had to go to the library for more books. 9. There were … new words in the text, and Nick spent … time learning them. 10. My mother knows English … and she can help you with the translation of this letter.