there is few

USAGE SUMMARY

The part of the sentence 'there is few' is not correct in written English.
It should be 'there are few' or 'there is little'. For example: "There are few students in the classroom today." OR "There is little time left before the end of the semester."

⚠ May contain grammatical issues

Science

News & Media

Human-verified examples from authoritative sources

Exact Expressions

57 human-written examples

In the past few decades, the global prevalence of these diseases rose abruptly and there is few signs that this trend is reversing itself.

BMC Pulmonary Medicine

However, there is few work on the attractor bifurcation of the FKPP equation.

Boundary Value Problems

In the literature, there is few works concern the behaviour analysis of specimens with moulded holes.

Composite Structures

There are a few irresponsible men around – but the key word there is "few".

The Guardian - Opinion

Owing to the difficulties involved in the definition of PVs for manufacturing systems, there is few works in this area.

Robotics and Computer-Integrated Manufacturing

There is few knowledge of the impact of the acceleration forces upon the deposit properties at continuous and mesoscopic scales.

Electrochimica Acta

Besides, there is few research on handshaking process in CRAHNs considering fair data link allocation among SUs.

Journal of Network and Computer Applications

There is few works concerning the local modelling of coupled electro active species transport and electrochemical processes in a biphasic electrolyte.

Electrochimica Acta

Particularly for Namorado oilfield, there is few models to estimate acoustic impedances in a reliable framework, specially for lack of log data.

Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering

However there is few cost-effective method to address the problem of analog integrators' output saturation due to the integrators' input offsets.

Integration, the VLSI Journal

Human-verified similar examples from authoritative sources

Similar Expressions

1 human-written examples

There is: few-hit wonders (Simple Plan), elder-statesman ska-punk (Less Than Jake), wimpy modern electro-pop (the Ready Set), Southern skate-crunk hip-hop (Yelawolf) and oodles of metalcore (the Devil Wears Prada).

The New York Times - Arts

Expert writing Tips

Best practice

Always ensure subject-verb agreement. If you intend to convey a limited quantity, use "there are few" for countable nouns and "there is little" for uncountable nouns.

Common error

Avoid using "there is few" because "few" implies a plural subject, which requires the verb "are". The correct form is "there are few".

Linguistic Context

The phrase "there is few" functions as an existential clause intended to indicate the limited existence or availability of something. However, it's grammatically flawed due to the mismatch between the singular verb "is" and the plural quantifier "few". Ludwig highlights the prevalence of this error while identifying its incorrectness.

Expression frequency: Very common

Frequent in

Science

55%

News & Media

19%

Wiki

3%

Less common in

Formal & Business

1%

Reference

0%

Encyclopedias

0%

Ludwig's WRAP-UP

The phrase "there is few" is commonly used to indicate a limited quantity of something, but it's grammatically incorrect. As Ludwig AI points out, the correct usage depends on whether you're referring to countable or uncountable items. For countable nouns, the proper phrase is "there are few", while for uncountable nouns, "there is little" should be used. Despite its frequent appearance, especially in scientific and news-related contexts, it's advisable to avoid "there is few" in formal writing to maintain grammatical accuracy. Ludwig's analysis underscores the importance of subject-verb agreement and provides guidance on using correct alternatives to effectively convey scarcity.

More alternative expressions

Phrases that express similar concepts, ordered by semantic similarity:

there are few

Corrects the subject-verb agreement; "are" is used with the plural noun "few".

there is little

Uses "little" to denote a small amount of something uncountable.

there is a scarcity of

Replaces the phrase with a more formal expression of limited availability.

there is a shortage of

Indicates a lack of something needed or expected.

there are not many

Rephrases the sentence to emphasize the small number of items.

few exist

A more concise way to express that something is rare.

limited availability

Highlights the restricted quantity of something.

a small number of

Indicates that the quantity of something is not high.

not much exists

Emphasizes the limited existence of something.

rarely found

Indicates that something is uncommon or hard to come across.

FAQs

What's the correct way to say "there is few"?

The correct way depends on whether you're referring to something countable or uncountable. For countable items, use "there are few". For uncountable items, use "there is little".

What does "there is few" mean?

While grammatically incorrect, "there is few" is generally used to indicate a small quantity of something. However, it's advisable to use grammatically correct alternatives like "there are few" or "there is little" to avoid confusion.

When should I use "there are few" instead of "there is few"?

Use "there are few" when referring to countable items. For example, "There are few apples left.". "There is few" is not grammatically correct.

What are some alternatives to "there is few" that sound more formal?

For more formal alternatives, you could use phrases such as "there is a scarcity of" or "limited availability" depending on the context.