Help needed

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ESL forum > Ask for help > Help needed

Help needed

Aldegunde

Help needed

Hi everybody!

I would appreciate your help to express this idea in the right way: if only woerk three hours a day , which one is correct:

I only work few hours

I only work for few hours

I assume that " a few" is not correct becouse it would mean "several", which is not the case.

Thanks in advance

20 Oct 2010

yarisdp

I think that � �I only work few hours � � is the right one,because when you use � � WORK FOR � �,it means the company you are working at.I also think that it will be better to use a day,a week etc. after � �hours � �.For e.g.few hours a day,four days a week.

20 Oct 2010

foreverjinxed

I �d say

�I only work a few hours a day."

I think adding the �a � is neccessary.

without the �a, � I �d say:

�I work few hours, but I �m still tired all the time. �

20 Oct 2010

ldthemagicman

Aldegunde,

"I work only three hours a day",

and

"I work only a few hours a day", are perfectly acceptable.

"Only" goes immediately before, or after the words that you are modifying. Strictly speaking, "I only work" means that I do nothing else.

"I only play Badminton on a Monday" means that I play Badminton and nothing else on a Monday. Badminton! Badminton! Badminton! Badminton! Badminton! All day long!

"I play Badminton only on a Monday" or "I play Badminton on a Monday only", mean that Monday is the only day on which I play Badminton.

Beware! Many English speakers do not obey this Rule!

I apologise for �correcting� you, but "a few" does not mean "several", it means "not many" or "a small number".

"We had a party last night and I invited 20 friends but only a few came, a small number - 6 in total".

I hope that this helps you.

Best wishes.

Les

20 Oct 2010

stessenspaola

Great explanation! It has helped me too!!!

20 Oct 2010