1).This town isn’t very well known and there isn’t much to see so a few tourists come here. 2). This town isn’t very well known and there isn’t much to see so few tourists come here.
4 Answers
Both sentences are grammatically correct.
"a few" means "some small number" (more than none), a positive statement.
"few" means "not many", a negative statement.
The last clause in both sentences starts with "so". That means that the last clause should be the result of what comes before.
It doesn't make sense to make a positive statement ("a few") about tourists coming, as a result of the town not being known and having no attractions, so sentence 1), while it is grammatical, doesn't make sense semantically.
Sentence 2) does make sense, since "few" = "not many" makes sense as the result of the first part of the sentence.
answered Aug 7, 2020 at 10:57
@Ram Pillai I agree that before 'so', there should be a punctuation. I, however, think a more appropriate one for connecting an independent clause preceded by a coordinating conjunction (for, and, nor, but, or, yet, and so) to another is a comma. If we prefer a semicolon, then it would be without the coordinating conjunction. I agree that 'few' is consistent with the negative feel in this context. My suggestion is: This town isn’t very well known and there isn’t much to see, so few tourists come here.
answered Aug 8, 2020 at 12:19
The difference between the two sentences is the word "a": in (1) "so a few" versus (2) "so few".
Sentence (2) is my preference, it has two facts and a conclusion that makes sense given the facts. In (1) the conclusion seems to contradict the two facts.
Sentence (1) appears to say that because the "town isn’t very well known and there isn’t much to see" that encourages a few tourists to visit. You could argue that some tourists deliberately choose places like that, but to me the phrasing in (1) does not have that interpretation.
If (1) is change to say "so only a few" then it makes sense again and is just a slightly more wordy version of the other.
//This town isn’t very well known and there isn’t much to see so few tourists come here.//
"Few" = practically no
"A few" = a small number
This difference is valid.
- Before the word 'so', there should be a semicolon. Thus, it can be This town isn’t very well known and there isn’t much to see; so (a) few tourists come here.
