Just a Little about a Little

Today’s English
March 13th, 2017

Few and little are the quantifiers in English. We use them with or without “a" to carry different meanings. 
Few and little = Not as much as we expected (negative meaning)
A few and a little = a small amount, when nothing is expected by us (used with positive answer)
1.There were few boys in the class. (Not as much as we expected)
2.There were just a few boys in the class.(A very small number, no expectations are implied)
3.Do you have money? No, very little. (Not much as you expected)
4.Do you have money? Yes, a little. (Some, a small amount)

The second thing to be remembered is,
A little/ little -  used with singular uncountable
A few/ few  - used with plural countable

1.We need a little time to complete the work. (Time=singular uncountable)
2.We need a few boys to complete this work. (Boys = plural countable)

One more thing to be remembered is, we use the adverbs only and just only before a little and a few, not before little and few:
1.Let me take just a few books from here. (Not just few…)
2.I gave him only a little money and he did everything for me.(Not only little…)

“Love all, trust a few, do wrong to none.” – Shakespeare in “All’s well that ends well"