Few dan a few dua-duanya dikelompokkan sebagai determiners, dan kalau digunakan dengan kata benda (noun), few dan a few diletakkan sebelum kata benda tersebut. Sekilas memang tampak sama. Tetapi, dilihat dari sisi makna sebenarnya berbeda. .
Few
Few berarti not many, alias tidak banyak, atau sedikit. Jika sobat pembaca mengatakan, misalnya, “Few people gathered in the town square’, (Tak banyak/sedikit orang berkumpul di alun-alun kota), Anda sedang mengatakan bahwa tidak banyak orang berkumpul di tempat itu, lebih tepatnya, hampir tak ada orang di lapangan itu. Jadi maknanya cenderung negatif.
Dalam percakapan, kata ini sangat jarang digunakan. Penutur asli lebih suka menggunakan not many. Orang lebih suka mengatakan,”Not many people gathered in the town square’. Berikut adalah beberapa contoh kalimat lain:
- There are few books on the shelf –> There are not enough books on the shelf –> There are not many books on the shelf –> There are hardly any books on the shelf.
- Few people signed up for the contest –> Only a small number of people signed up for the contest –> Not many people signed up for the contest –> There were hardly any people signing up.
A few
A few mempunyai makna yang lebih positif. Jika sobat mengatakan, misalnya,”There are a few students in the classroom’, itu sama artinya dengan ‘There are some students in the classroom’, artinya ada beberapa siswa dalam kelas itu. Mungkin secara faktual memang tidak banyak, tetapi maknanya lebih positif.
Coba bandingkan kalimat-kalimat berikut:
- There are few books on the shelf –> There are hardly any books on the shelf
- There are a few books on the shelf –> There are some books on the shelf.
- Few people signed up for the contest –> Hardly any people signed up –> Only a small number of people signed up
- A few people signed up for the contest –> Some people signed up for the contest