In reply to:

My all-time poser for explaining to the Japanese was what makes the following sentences mean what they do:

That man has few ideas.
That man has a few ideas.

It's getting late, Bridget, so I'm not sure how coherent this is, but here goes.

Few means not many. A few means not none. Why?

I suspect the answer is to do with the general meaning of definite (the), indefinite (a/an), and zero ( __ ) articles. Consider the following:

The people who came to the party enjoyed themselves.
We have a definite group in mind, all of whom are included. Similarly with The few people who came to the party enjoyed themselves.

A group of people who came to the party enjoyed themselves.
Here the group of people is indefinite, is part of a larger group. Hence A few (of the) people who came to the party enjoyed themselves.

People who came to the party enjoyed themselves. No article, so not a definite group of people. Similarly Few people who came to the party enjoyed themselves.

You can probably think of better examples to illustrate the point, but I think that's on the right lines. Whether it would actually be useful for your students or would only confuse them even more, is another matter.

William, I'm told that a second edition of the Michael Lewis book came out a year or so ago, so it should still be in print.


Bingley


Bingley