Painful Pairs

1. Like vs As
Like is used to compare nouns.
Eg: “I look like my brother”.
Like is used in hypothetical situations.
Eg: “The drum sounded like thunder”
Like + verb is Wrong
Eg: “Like I said…”

As is used to compare actions, trends, verbs, clauses and phrases.
Eg1: “do as I do”
Eg2: “As in the 60s, the 70’s too witnessed a lot of hippy music”
Eg3: “He jumped as his predecessor”.
As is used in real situations.
Eg: “As a detective, he solved the puzzle”.
As + verb is Right.
Eg: “As I said…”

2. Many vs Much
‘Many’ is used for countable occurrences or items.
Eg: Many stars, many books, many scholars, many dioxins.
‘Much’ is used for non-countable occurrences or items.
Eg: Much thought, much time, much milk, much noise.


2. Little vs Few
‘Little’ is used for countable nouns, and is used with singular form.
Eg1: There's little wine left in the bottle.
Eg2: I've put a little sugar into your coffee.
‘A few’ and ‘few’ refer to count nouns, and are used with the plural form
Eg1: There are a few students in that classroom.
Eg2: He says few applicants have presented themselves.

‘A little’ is a positive expression, whereas ‘little’ is negative.
‘A few’ is a positive expression, whereas ‘few’ is negative.
Eg1: He's got little money left. – meaning hardly any
Eg2: I have few friends in Chicago. – meaning hardly any
Eg3: He's got a little money left. – meaning some
Eg4: I have a few friends in Chicago. – meaning some