[Grammar] Few, little, less, fewer

Hello everyone,
My first post here and looking for some help.

In the sentence,

Little remains of the old castle walls except the Black Gate.

i know that "Little" is correct in this sentence, i'm just having trouble explaining why to my student. Any help would be greatly appreciated. This sentence comes from the Cambridge Advanced Grammer In Use textbook second edition. It is a pretty common textbook. Unit 52.

Also, while i have your ear ,


She called her few remaining relatives together and told them she was leaving.


Same situation. i know few is correct here, just having trouble explaingin it. Any help would be hugely appreciated.

Thanks,
Paul

pauljwest said:

Hello everyone,
My first post here and looking for some help.

In the sentence,

Little remains of the old castle walls except the Black Gate.

I know that "Little" is correct in this sentence, i'm just having trouble explaining why to my student. Any help would be greatly appreciated. This sentence comes from the Cambridge Advanced Grammer In Use textbook second edition. It is a pretty common textbook. Unit 52.

Also, while I have your ear ,


She called her few remaining relatives together and told them she was leaving.


Same situation. I know few is correct here, just having trouble explaingin it. Any help would be hugely appreciated.

Thanks,
Paul

Click to expand...

In the first sentence "little" equals "not much".
Perhaps you could give them this definition of "few": http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/few_2

does this mean LITTLE is used for "not much" and FEW is used for "not many"??? adverb?? adjective?? now im getting a bit confused. again .. i know the answers.. just having trouble explaining it my students. thanks as always!!!!

I am not a teacher

bhaisahab said:

In the first sentence "little" equals "not much".

Perhaps you could give them this definition of "few": http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/few_2

Click to expand...

I learnt "little" and "much" are used for uncountable nouns, the "s" in "remain" implies that "remains" is treated as countable.

Are there others reasons for using "little"?

Peter Chan said:

the "s" in "remain" implies that "remains" is treated as countable.

Click to expand...

'Remains' is not a noun; it is the third person singular form of the verb REMAIN.

As an English teacher and native speaker, Paul, you must know that your post #3 is very badly written. Students and learners who read these threads expect teachers to set the highest standards of written English.

pauljwest said:

does this mean LITTLE is used for "not much" and FEW is used for "not many"???

Click to expand...

Yes- that's what they mean in your examples.