Maybo
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In this case it means the same as "that's left", thus: "what little that's left of the enclave's food, fuel and water supplies ...."Is “remains” a verb?
Is ‘little’ a noun and ‘remains’ a verb in the original sentence?@Maybo If you remove "what" you will have to change the rest of the sentence and make "little" a verb.
"Remains" is a verb. Have you checked a dictionary to see if "little" can be a noun?Is ‘little’ a noun and ‘remains’ a verb in the original sentence?
"What little remains of the enclave's food, fuel and water supplies" is a clause, and it is functioning as the subject of the second independent clause, whose predicate is "were dwindling fast." If "what" is removed, and nothing else is changed, the second independent clause of the sentence will collapse into ungrammaticality:View attachment 5671
‘Early Tuesday morning, the U.S. again expressed hope that it was close to an aid agreement and to establishing "safe zones" in southern Gaza, but what little remains of the enclave's food, fuel and water supplies were dwindling fast.’
What’s the difference in meaning if ‘what’ is removed?
Just checked. Only pronoun."Remains" is a verb. Have you checked a dictionary to see if "little" can be a noun?
Why did you put 'the'?Early Tuesday morning, the U.S. again expressed hope that it was close to an aid agreement and to establishing "safe zones" in southern Gaza, but the little that remains of the enclave's food, fuel and water supplies was dwindling fast.
Note my corrections above. Remember to write in complete sentences at all times. Also, that's not right. It's not only a pronoun. Have another look.I have just checked. It's only a pronoun.
Hi, White Hat -- Like Tarheel, I agree that a singular verb is needed, whether it's "is" or "was." The prepositional phrase "of the enclave's food, fuel and water supplies" is irrelevant for subject-verb agreement. It would be ungrammatical to say, "Take another look at that sentence ("Early Tuesday morning, the U.S. again expressed hope that it was close to an aid agreement and to establishing "safe zones" in southern Gaza, but what little remains of the enclave's food, fuel and water supplies were dwindling fast.").
Wouldn't 'what little remains of the enclave's food, fuel and water supplies is dwindling fast' be correct here?
Cross-posted
Hi, Maybo -- Great question. "The" alters the meaning quite a bit here. "The little that remains was dwindling fast" claims that little remained and that it was dwindling fast. "Little that remains was dwindling fast" is equivalent in meaning to "Little of what remains was dwindling fast," which implies that most things were NOT dwindling fast. Thus, without "the," we have almost the opposite meaning!Why did you put 'the'?
What's the difference between 'little' and 'the little'?
View attachment 5671
‘Early Tuesday morning, the U.S. again expressed hope that it was close to an aid agreement and to establishing "safe zones" in southern Gaza, but what little remains of the enclave's food, fuel and water supplies were dwindling fast.’
What’s the difference in meaning if ‘what’ is removed?
What would you say as to 'little remains of the enclave's food, fuel and water supplies and this is dwindling fast' and 'little remained of the enclave's food, fuel and water supplies and this was dwindling fast' being more correct?Dropping the determiner “what” changes the meaning only slightly. However, it would result in ungrammaticality, though this can be resolved by recasting it as “little remains of the enclave's food, fuel and water supplies and this was dwindling fast”.
what little remains = what the small amount remains?@Maybo little - a small amount
what little remains - the small amount that was left
= the small amount that remainswhat little remains = what the small amount remains?
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