Rel Exact regex  
 
Rambler's Top100
News
About
Dictionaries
Articles
RSS List
Comments
Home
A > American Idioms > Idioms & More! > English — ESL > Dictionaries  ru
8000 American Idioms
Dictionaries
English — ESL
Extra
Idioms & More!
American Idioms
A
B
C
D
E
F
G
H
I
J
K
L
M
N
O
P
Q
R
S
T
U
V
W
X
Y
Z
Still need more
Articles
Online Lessons
English for Russians
Russian language
Famous sayings and expressions
Articles
About the site

a little

[a little] {n.}

or {adj.}

A small amount (of); some. — Usually "a little" is different in meaning from "little", which emphasizes the negative; "a little" means "some"; but "little" means "not much". We say

* /"We thought that the paper was all gone, but a little was left."/ But we say,

* /"We thought we still had a bag of flour, but little was left."/ Also, we say,

* /"Bob was sick yesterday, but he is a little better today."/ But we say,

* /"Bob was sick yesterday, and he is little better today."/ Sometimes "a little" is used with "only", and then it is negative.

* /We thought we had a whole bag of flour, but only a little was left./

* /We have used most of the sugar; but a little is left./

* /We did not eat all the cake; we saved a little of it for you./

* /I'm tired; I need a little time to rest./

* /Where is the paper? I need a little more./

- Often used like an adverb.

* /Usually the teacher just watched the dancing class, but sometimes she danced a little to show them how./

* /The children wanted to play a little longer./

- Sometimes used with "very" for emphasis.

* /The sick girl could not eat anything, but she could drink a very little tea./

Syn.: A BIT. Compare: A FEW. Contrast: A LOT, QUITE A LITTLE.

Tags:


   
See also »
 






 
Latest news »
  RSS-feeds
We have added RSS functionality to the site. At present you can subscribe to any of the following RSS feeds: search (keywords), ...

 
  © 2006—2008 www.sky-net-eye.com