196. The adjectives few and little have the negative meaning of not much, not many, without the article; but when a is put before them, they have the positive meaning of some. Notice the contrast in the following sentences:—
Of the country beyond the Mississippi little more was known than of the heart of Africa.—Mcmaster
To both must I of necessity cling, supported always by the hope that when a little time, a few years, shall have tried me more fully in their esteem, I may be able to bring them together.—Keats's Letters.
Few of the great characters of history have been so differently judged as Alexander.—Smith, History of Greece
With adjectives, changed to nouns.
197. When the is used before adjectives with no substantive following (Sec. 181 and note), these words are adjectives used as nouns, or pure nouns; but when an or a precedes such words, they are always nouns, having the regular use and inflections of nouns; for example,—
Such are the words a brave should use.—Cooper.
In the great society of wits, John Gay deserves to be a favorite, and to have a good place.—Thackeray
Only the name of one obscure epigrammatist has been embalmed for use in the verses of a rival.—Pearson.
Exercise.—Bring up sentences with five uses of the indefinite article.