Englishfor English speakers
a
Determinative
—
A is used when the following word could be any of a certain type.
Compare "A book I saw on the shelf" and "The book I gave you yesterday".
a
Noun
—
A is the first letter of the alphabet.
The letter "a" comes before "b".
—
In some schools, an A is a very high grade.
Ron got an A on his earth science test.
little
Adjective
—
If something is little, its size is not big.
I just ate a tiny little piece of the cake.
—
A little while, distance, etc. is not long.
Could you just wait a little while more?
—
A little person or animal is young.
Two little boys were fighting on the playground.
little
Determinative
—
Little money, room, help, etc. is a small amount of it; not much.
They understood little or no French.
He was busy and had little time for children.
Try to spend as little of your money as possible.
We saw little of her after the first day.
Little is known about the problem.
The building was destroyed leaving little more than rock and glass.
She's a quiet person with little to say about these things.
This has little to do with him and a lot to do with you.
We saved what little was left.
farther
—
adverb
(= further)
to or at a greater extent or degree or a more advanced stage ('further' is used more often than 'farther' in this abstract sense)
further complicated by uncertainty about the future
let's not discuss it further
nothing could be further from the truth
they are further along in their research than we expected
the application of the law was extended farther
he is going no farther in his studies
—
adverb
(= further)
to or at a greater distance in time or space ('farther' is used more frequently than 'further' in this physical sense)
farther north
moved farther away
farther down the corridor
the practice may go back still farther to the Druids
went only three miles further
further in the future
—
adjective
more distant in especially space or time
they live in the farther house
—
adjective
(= further)
more distant in especially degree
nothing could be further from the truth
further from our expectations
farther from the truth
farther from our expectations