关于a very few/little的用法甄别

■倪肖丁

有读者引用了《新概念英语》的编者Alexander的如下句子：

Mona has had very few opportunities to practice her English.

Alexander认为上句中不能用*a very few。其相关说明是：few具否定意义，经常用very修饰；而a few具肯定意义，例如I’d like to ask a few questions。

同样地，Alexander认为He has very little hope of winning this race一句中，也不能用*a very little。

读者就此提出求证。

从Alexander上述句子的出处看，各例句都没有上下文语境，同时也没有给出作为比较的含有a very few的例句。因此，从读者的角度看来，Alexander并不是在讨论a very few与very few（以及a very little与very little）的意义区别，而是在否定a very few（以及a very little）这一用法本身。也就是说，Alexander认为如果要表示否定，就用few或者very few (little或very little)；如果要表示肯定就用a few (或者a little)。所以，既不能说Mona has had a very few opportunities to practice her English，也不能说He has a very little hope of winning this race。

那么，究竟是否有a very few和a very little这样的用法呢？答案是有的。

尽管一般英语语法教程在相关章节中并不介绍a very few/little，但这不意味着没有这种用法。实际上，在上述Alexander的句子中并非不能用a very few和a very little，只是意思稍微有点区别而已。

拿a very few来说，这是英语中一个正常用法。例如，Collins Cobuild English Dictionary (1999) 在叙述a few的用法时明确指出： You use a few to indicate that you are talking about a small number of people or things. You can also say a very few.

GVCAP指出：very和quite修饰few时不定冠词的位置不一样。前者的词序是a very few，后者的词序是quite a few。例如：

A very few people have voiced their support for him.

Quite a few people have complained about his behaviour.

在英文词典和书刊中这样的用例并不少见。例如：

There are only a very few (=not many) exceptions.（LDOCE）

    The lake silted up in a very few years.（MDAIPV）

For a very few adjectives, the comparative and superlative forms are quite different from their base form. (CDEG)

English has a very few instances, including sheep, deer, series, aircraft. （GEG）

A return to Syria is too unsafe for most, though a very few may be going back. （The Economist July 23rd 2016）

It is possible that a very few people next to the square tried to enter it, and struggled with the police guarding the place.（The Guardian December 12, 2006）

在a very few中，very用于修饰few，就像a very small number of students中的very修饰small一样，都起到了减少数量的作用（UUEG2002）。因此，就数量概念而言，a very few介于a few与（very）few之间：比a few要更少一些，但又不像(very) few那样具有明显的否定意味，意思与汉语“很少的”大致相当。用a few, very few还是a very few取决于人们想表达的意思。

试比较以下三句：

Mona has had a few opportunities to practice her English.  莫娜有一些练习英语的机会。

Mona has had a very few opportunities to practice her English. 莫娜练习英语的机会不多。

Mona has had very few opportunities to practice her English. 莫娜几乎没有机会练习英语。

显然，以上三个句子都是正确的，只是意思有所区别。

至于a very little, 也与a very few同理。例如，CCEG认为可以说a very little（You can also say 'a very little' or 'a very great many'.）；CCED也指出：A little of something is a small amount of it, but not very much. You can also say a very little. 例如：I shall be only a very little time.

又例如：

There's still some money in the bank, but only a very little. (WALD)

Apparently a very little everlastingness in actual matters is hard to take. (DCAU)

最后，引用Rodney Huddleston (2002)的相关论述作为结论：在a little之间允许的唯一插入是very, 例如a very little money；而a few之间的插入可以是very, good和fair。例如a very few mistakes。此时，very的作用是降低上限：最小数字为3，最大数字不会比3大很多。（Very  serves to lower the upper bound: the number is not much greater than the minimum of three）

由此可知，篇首读者引述的Alexander的两个句子若分别改为Mona has had a very few opportunities to practice her English和He has a very little hope of winning this race，在语法和用法上也都没有任何问题。