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Page 308 of Practical English Usage reads

We use the determiner (a) little with singular (usually uncountable) words.

What use with singular countable words is it implying?

I know it's always possible to treat nouns as uncountable in a jocular tone, as in This is much too much car for me or the structure "too much X for so little Y", where both or either can be countable nouns.

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  • As I pointed out on the ELL forum, you have misread the sentence.
    – Kate Bunting
    Nov 26, 2020 at 9:59
  • The link you provided does indeed say "usually uncountable", but I'm not aware of any count nouns selected by "(a) little".
    – BillJ
    Nov 26, 2020 at 10:06
  • @Kate Bunting I don't think GJC has misread the sentence. 'usually uncountable" seems to imply that the determiner (a) little can sometimes be used with countable nouns.
    – Patrick D
    Nov 26, 2020 at 10:08
  • @BillJ it's always possible to treat nouns uncountably in a jocular tone, as in This is much too much car for me books.google.es/…
    – GJC
    Nov 26, 2020 at 10:08
  • @GJC Really? Then why ask if you think you believe you know the answer? Now supply a sentence containing "(a) little" with a count noun in Standard English.
    – BillJ
    Nov 26, 2020 at 10:15

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To the best of my knowledge, the determiner (a) little cannot be used with countable nouns.

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