few (not many) – English Grammar Profiler
In the English Grammar Profile, C1 point 27 in NEGATION is defined as:
(very) ‘few’ meaning ‘not many’ to refer to people in formal written contexts, often reports or surveys.
*This also overlaps C1 quantity pronouns.
A search in iWeb for:
few _V
1 FEW ARE 18250
Many are called, few are chosen.
listen
2 FEW HAVE 15340
And very few have it in them.
listen
3 FEW WILL 6660
But few will soon forget this lonely man who reached out to a world he knew only through the radio,
looking for friendship and finding only pain and tragedy.
listen
4 FEW WERE 6485 5 FEW WOULD 6320 6 FEW CAN 5928 7 FEW COULD 2828 8 FEW KNOW 2524 9 FEW DO 2470 10 FEW HAD 2390 11 FEW TEST 1552 12 FEW MAY 1458 13 FEW SEEM 1018 14 FEW GET 1005 15 FEW IS 926 16 FEW BLOG 901 17 FEW DID 843 18 FEW UNDERSTAND 794 19 FEW REALIZE 766 20 FEW KNEW 669 21 FEW MIGHT 664 22 FEW MAKE 617 23 FEW USE 574 24 FEW GO 533 25 FEW TAKE 513 26 FEW COME 473 27 FEW UP 468 28 FEW SAID 451 29 FEW MADE 447 30 FEW STAND 438 31 FEW OFFER 437 32 FEW BELIEVE 435 33 FEW TRAVEL 429 34 FEW LISTENS 417
35 FEW GOOGLE 415 (not a verb)
36 FEW REMAIN 414 37 FEW BUG 405 38 FEW WANT 378 39 FEW STANDOUT 368 40 FEW BEING 363 41 FEW WORK 340 42 FEW BUILDS 339 43 FEW CAME 324 44 FEW STATE 319 45 FEW HAS 305 46 FEW READ 300 47 FEW WAS 295 48 FEW SAY 284 49 FEW SHOULD 277 50 FEW EXPECT 276 51 FEW THINK 274 52 FEW SUPPORT 273 53 FEW WENT 271 54 FEW TOOK 268 55 FEW GOT 259
56 FEW THOUGHT 256
57 FEW SURVIVE 250
58 FEW FIND 247 59 FEW INCLUDE 244 60 FEW REMEMBER 242 61 FEW SAW 240 62 FEW FOLLOW 238
63 FEW PLOT 234
64 FEW YOUTUBE 233 65 FEW SEE 230 66 FEW BELIEVED 217 67 FEW MUST 204 68 FEW SHOW 204 69 FEW PAINT 202 70 FEW SEEMED 197 71 FEW SNEAK 197 72 FEW FALL 190 73 FEW FAN 180 74 FEW LOOK 177 75 FEW USING 177 76 FEW COMPARED 176 77 FEW MARKET 175 78 FEW SURVIVED 175 79 FEW REQUIRE 174 80 FEW POSSESS 173 81 FEW MANAGE 172 82 FEW BECOME 170 83 FEW GIVE 168 84 FEW DANCE 168 85 FEW CLIMBS 166 86 FEW EXPECTED 166
87 FEW DARE 161
very few _VV
1 VERY FEW KNOW 331 2 VERY FEW GET 157 3 VERY FEW SEEM 142 4 VERY FEW UNDERSTAND 130 5 VERY FEW MAKE 119 6 VERY FEW TAKE 89 7 VERY FEW GO 79 8 VERY FEW SURVIVE 68 9 VERY FEW OFFER 68 10 VERY FEW KNEW 67 11 VERY FEW COME 59 12 VERY FEW USE 53 13 VERY FEW REALIZE 48 14 VERY FEW WANT 46 15 VERY FEW REMAIN 43 16 VERY FEW MADE 40 17 VERY FEW COMPARED 38 18 VERY FEW SEE 38 19 VERY FEW SURVIVED 37 20 VERY FEW CAME 34 21 VERY FEW BECOME 28 22 VERY FEW EXIST 27 23 VERY FEW FIND 26 24 VERY FEW SUPPORT 26 25 VERY FEW SAY 26 26 VERY FEW MANAGE 24 27 VERY FEW THINK 24 28 VERY FEW LIKE 24 29 VERY FEW BELIEVE 23 30 VERY FEW TRAVEL 23 31 VERY FEW STAND 21 32 VERY FEW CHOOSE 20 33 VERY FEW POSSESS 19 34 VERY FEW SUCCEED 18 35 VERY FEW GIVE 18 36 VERY FEW GOT 18 37 VERY FEW ACHIEVE 17 38 VERY FEW TOOK 17 39 VERY FEW WENT 17 40 VERY FEW WANTED 17 41 VERY FEW SPEAK 17 42 VERY FEW PROVIDE 16 43 VERY FEW SEEMED 16 44 VERY FEW WORK 15
45 VERY FEW GRADUATE 14
46 VERY FEW APPEAR 13 47 VERY FEW AGREE 13 48 VERY FEW END 13 49 VERY FEW CRUISE 13 50 VERY FEW FOLLOW 13 51 VERY FEW LEGIT 13
52 VERY FEW STATE 13
53 VERY FEW REMEMBER 13 54 VERY FEW SAW 13 55 VERY FEW TALK 13 56 VERY FEW TIRES 12 57 VERY FEW REPEAT 12 58 VERY FEW REALISE 12 59 VERY FEW PAINT 12 60 VERY FEW CONSIDER 12 61 VERY FEW CARE 12 62 VERY FEW BELIEVED 11 63 VERY FEW DELIVER 11 64 VERY FEW INVOLVE 11
65 VERY FEW FOCUS 11
66 VERY FEW LOOK 11 67 VERY FEW SAID 11 68 VERY FEW TEST 11 69 VERY FEW WEAR 10 70 VERY FEW MANAGED 10
71 VERY FEW COMBAT 10
B2 vocabulary:
dare, focus, google, graduate, plot, state, survive, survived, tackles