Few Vs A Few. Aug 05 2014 Both couple of and few are used to refer to the fact that we are talking about something that is small in number though couple is specifically reserved for something that is two in quantity whereas few is used when the quantity is greater than two generally. Quite a Few There is a very common expression quite a few which is a trap for foreign learners because it looks like it could mean rather few or very few but it does not.
Few when used without a preceding a means very few. As in The train leaves in a few minutes. A few is a positive idea.
The same rule applies to little which is used with singular uncountable nouns.
See the difference between the sentences given below. Quite a few expresses that the speaker was impressed or. As determiners the difference between few and fewer is that few is preceded by another determiner an indefinite but usually small number of while fewer is the comparative of few. See the difference between the sentences given below.
