Teleostomi  +  392337 Sun, 15 Jul 07 09:32 AM Can "little" modify countable nouns?   A: Where did you have it custom-tailored? B: It's not custom-made. I bought it off the rack. A: Really? It fits you perfectly. B: Thank you. It didn't fit me at first, so I had a little alterations made. I learned that you can't use "a little" or "little" with countable nouns. Teleostomi Joined on Sat, Jun 10 2006 Regular Member 557 Nouns, Countable Nouns

	Ant_222  +  392360 Sun, 15 Jul 07 10:31 AM Of couse it can: «Hush little baby and don't you cry» (Sommertime, Ella Fitzgerald). But in your example there should be no indefite article — "little alterations". Ant_222 Joined on Sun, May 21 2006 Podolsk, Russia Contributing Member 1,717 Articles, Nouns, Countable Nouns

	Teleostomi  +  392369 Sun, 15 Jul 07 10:51 AM No, I don't think "baby" could be called "countable noun" there. I'd say it's "vocative" (Isn't there one in Russian?) although there supposed to be no case in English. Teleostomi Nouns, Countable Nouns

	Ant_222  +  392381 Sun, 15 Jul 07 11:27 AM «Isn't there one in Russian?» We used to have one before the Bolshevik Revolution... Now, in such sentences, the addressee stands in the nominative (subjective) case. What about addressing several crying children: "Hush, you little babies, you fathers are rich and mums good looking so there's no reason to cry"? Also no case? P.S.: Anyway, little can be used with countables. Just check it in google. Ant_222 Nouns, Nominative, Countable Nouns

	Teleostomi  +  392445 Sun, 15 Jul 07 01:01 PM OK, you're right. Thanks for clarifying it! We used to have one before the Bolshevik Revolution. Ah, you ignited my fuse! Could you explain a bit more? Teleostomi Nouns, Countable Nouns

	Cool Breeze  +  392463 Sun, 15 Jul 07 01:37 PM Hi T You may hear expressions like a little alterations in informal conversation but in correct English your sentence should be: It didn't fit me at first, so I had a few alterations made. If the alterations were so insignificant as to hardly deserve a mention, you could say: I had some small alterations made. Little entails too much feeling to be used in the sentence. But these are OK: a little town, a little boy A wife may call her 50-year-old husband little: He is still a little boy. She wouldn't say: He is still a small boy. Cheers CB Cool Breeze Joined on Fri, Apr 7 2006 Senior Member 3,970 "I hope you'll all live to be 150 years old - and the last voice you hear is mine!" Frank Sinatra on stage in Oslo, Norway, 28 September 1991 Conversations, Nouns, Countable Nouns

	Ant_222  +  392467 Sun, 15 Jul 07 02:01 PM «Ah, you ignited my fuse! Could you explain a bit more?» How am I supposed to explain it? You know/are learning Russian? Ant_222 Nouns, Countable Nouns

	Grammar Geek  +  392512 Sun, 15 Jul 07 03:55 PM Yes, by all means, little can modify countable nouns. As an American speaker, I agree that there are differences so that you can't always use "small" when you'd use "little," (the "little boy" example is a good one). But you can use "little" just about any time you would use "small." You seem to have learned some sublties of difference between the two words that I, as a native speaker, don't know about. A small dog = a little dog. A small piece of cake = a little piece of cake. And so on. In your example, with the slight change to  I had some little alterations made, it sounds fine to me. Grammar Geek Joined on Tue, Jan 10 2006 Veteran Member 19,652 Barbara, who answers in American English. My housekeeping skills attest to the truth of the second law of thermodynamics: Left to themselves, things get more and more random! Difference Between, Nouns, Countable Nouns

	Cool Breeze  +  392579 Sun, 15 Jul 07 06:17 PM  Grammar Geek wrote: In your example, with the slight change to  I had some little alterations made, it sounds fine to me. Hi GG Your sentence sounds fine to me as well. I think the original poster didn't quite know how to ask the question he/she wanted to ask. That is obvious from his/her sentence, which has a little alterations even though the title of the post has just little. Being a nonnative I can easily see what he/she is wondering about. The basic difference between a little and a few when size is not meant is that a little can't qualify a plural noun: I have a little/some money. But: I have a few/some friends. (Not: I have a little friends.) This is what he/she is asking about. Of course little can qualify a plural noun when number/amount is not meant. I also agree with you that little and small can often be used interchangeably. My examples weren't perhaps the best possible; I just wanted to say that little is a 'warmer' word and has emotional connotations. Cheers CB Cool Breeze Grammar, Plurals, Difference Between, Nouns, Countable Nouns