Q：not a bit 和 not a little 有何不同?

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A：a bit 和 a little 的意思幾乎相同，但兩者前面若加上 “not”，意思卻完全不同。not a bit 意為「一點也沒有；一點也不」，而 not a little 意為「很多；非常」。例如：

  • Tom wasn’t a bit surprised. (湯姆一點也不驚訝)
  • Tom wasn’t a little surprised. (湯姆非常驚訝)

a bit 和 a little (兩者皆當副詞用時) 在修飾動詞、形容詞時可以互換，如 The shirt looks a bit/a little large. (這件襯衫看起來有點大或看起來大了一點)；但 a bit (不可當形容詞用) 後面不能直接接名詞，若要接名詞，須使用 a bit of，如 Give me a bit of water. (請給我一點水)，而 a little (可當形容詞用) 後面可直接接名詞，如 There is a little food in the bowl. (碗裡有點食物)。

關於 not a little，也可使用 no little 或 quite a little 來表達相同的意思，這三個片語都與 much 同義，亦即 “not a little = no little = quite a little = much” (很多) — 它們都是接不可數名詞。若要接可數名詞，英文也有相對應的片語來表達相同的意思，它們是 “not a few = no few = quite a few = many” (很多)。例如：

He has much money but I have many books. (他有很多錢，但我有很多書)
= He has not a little money, but I have not a few books.
= He has no little money; I have no few books.
= He has quite a little money; I have quite a few books.
= He has a great deal of money but I have a large number of books.

延伸閱讀：

  1. Q：as such 和 such as 有何不同?
  2. Q： amount, number 和 quantity 的用法有何不同呢? 下面三句都講得通嗎? 1. A large amount of chickens were infected with the H5N1 strain of the bird flu. 2. A large number of chickens were infected with the H5N1 strain of the bird flu. 3. A large quantity of chickens were infected with the H5N1 strain of the bird flu.
  3. Allow, ask, cost…等動詞只能接雙受詞
  4. Q：”Nice to meet you” 和 “Nice meeting you” 有何不同?
  5. Q：big 和 large 的用法及意思有何不同?
  6. Plenty 的用法
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2 Comments

  1. sarah wen
    2014 年 03 月 05 日 at 14:33:36

    我向請問那quite a bit= a little嗎?
    中文意思要怎麼翻才對?

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    • admin
      2014 年 03 月 06 日 at 00:20:24

      quite a bit 不等於 a little，而且意思正好相反。儘管 a few, a bit 和 a lot 的意思不同，但在加上 quite 之後，即 quite a few, quite a bit, quite a lot，意思卻一樣，意為「相當多」。

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