a small progress

USAGE SUMMARY

The phrase "a small progress" is not correct in standard English; it should be "small progress" without the article "a." You can use "small progress" when referring to a minor improvement or advancement in a particular area or task.
Example: "After weeks of hard work, we finally made small progress on the project."

⚠ May contain grammatical issues

News & Media

Science

Wiki

Human-verified examples from authoritative sources

Exact Expressions

4 human-written examples

That's sort of a small progress to that end.

Forbes

When you send a message, a small progress bar pops up at the bottom of the screen, with the word "Undo" on the right side.

TechCrunch

These issues may have caused to mostly focus on the investigation of univariate distribution during the last two decades, and a small progress has been made in the multivariate distribution study of speech signal.

EURASIP Journal on Audio, Speech, and Music Processing

If your phone has not crashed, you should see a dartboard, the java logo and a small progress bar.

WikiHow

Human-verified similar examples from authoritative sources

Similar Expressions

56 human-written examples

A smaller PROGRESS substudy also showed that active treatment stopped or delayed the progression of cerebral white matter hyperintensities (WMH) in patients with stroke (Dufouil et al. 2005).

Core Evidence

Beneath this image, a large progress bar shows you how much time is left for each exercise; below that is a smaller progress bar for the entire workout.

The New York Times - Tech

Even if it's an extremely small action, a little progress will typically make you feel better about the task and increase your self-esteem, which in turn reduces the desire to procrastinate to make yourself feel better, he says.

The Washington Post

Recycling: small progress, and a long way to go The expo also highlighted remaining challenges.

The Guardian

There are many, many years of small progress behind a lot of these things, including mundane things like more data and computer power.

MIT Technology Review

This deal represents small progress on a small problem.

HuffPost

The greatest concentration of students is at the first stage of awareness; as people move through each stage, participation is reduced until only a small number progress and complete the course.

Research and Practice in Technology Enhanced Learning

Expert writing Tips

Best practice

When referring to a minimal advancement, it's grammatically sound to use "small progress" without the article "a". For example: "Despite the challenges, we've made small progress".

Common error

Avoid using the article "a" before "small progress". The grammatically correct form is "small progress". Sticking to the correct form will improve the overall clarity.

Linguistic Context

The phrase "a small progress" functions as a noun phrase, intended to denote a minimal level of advancement. However, according to Ludwig AI, it's grammatically incorrect and should be "small progress". It highlights the degree or extent of the progress made.

Expression frequency: Rare

Frequent in

News & Media

40%

Science

40%

Wiki

20%

Less common in

Formal & Business

0%

Encyclopedias

0%

Social Media

0%

Ludwig's WRAP-UP

In summary, while the phrase "a small progress" is used to indicate a minimal degree of advancement, it is considered grammatically incorrect. Ludwig AI suggests the proper form is "small progress", omitting the article "a". Although instances of its use can be found in various contexts, including news articles and scientific papers, it is advisable to use grammatically sound alternatives such as "slight progress" or "minor progress" to ensure clarity and accuracy. The frequency of this phrase is rare, indicating it's not a commonly used expression.

More alternative expressions

Phrases that express similar concepts, ordered by semantic similarity:

slight progress

Omits the article "a" for grammatical correctness, focusing on the minimal degree of advancement.

minor progress

Replaces "small" with "minor" to describe the degree of advancement, while still omitting the article "a".

limited progress

Emphasizes the constrained or restricted nature of the advancement made.

a little progress

Uses "little" instead of "small" maintaining a similar connotation of a minimal advance.

a modest improvement

Shifts from "progress" to "improvement", emphasizing a positive change but potentially smaller in scale.

a marginal advance

Replaces "progress" with "advance" stressing the slight nature of the development.

incremental gains

Focuses on gradual accumulation of small improvements.

baby steps

An idiomatic expression denoting very small, initial actions toward a larger goal.

a grain of progress

Uses "grain" to indicate a very tiny amount of advancement made.

a glimmer of hope

Moves from progress to indicating the presence of a small positive signal.

FAQs

Is it grammatically correct to say "a small progress"?

According to Ludwig AI, the phrase "a small progress" is grammatically incorrect. It should be "small progress" without the article "a".

What's a better way to say "a small progress"?

Instead of "a small progress", you can use alternatives such as "slight progress", "minor progress", or "limited progress".

How can I use "small progress" in a sentence?

You can use "small progress" in sentences like: "Despite the challenges, we are making small progress" or "Every step, no matter how small, contributes to progress".

What is the difference between "small progress" and "big progress"?

"Small progress" refers to a minor advancement or improvement, while "big progress" indicates a significant or substantial advancement. For example, fixing a minor bug is small progress, while completely overhauling the user interface represents big progress.