What does "there is little to stop" mean?

Question

I am reading a text. part of it is as follows:

Question 1. What is YOUR role in that?

I suggest that primarily it is to help your friend to keep her mind focused on the images. If you were to try to do it yourself you will find that the mind can slip away for a number of reasons. One is that there is little to stop your mind wandering back into everyday preoccupations.

What does "there is little to stop" mean in that context? I guess it means " it is hard to stop ". Am I right or not? if I am right, then is it correct to say " there is little to work at midnight" "there is little to sleep in parks" and so on?

Answer 1

The complete clause is:

"There is little to stop your mind wandering (back)"

This simply means that there are not many things to stop your mind from wandering.

Alternatively, for a change in emphasis, "there are only a few things" can be used.

Answer 2

'Little' is a negative idea. It has a negative meaning. 'Little' means 'not much'.

'There is little to stop' means 'there is not much or not enough to stop'.

We can also use 'only a little' in place of 'little'.

('There is little to stop' does not mean

'it is hard to stop.')

Answer 3

• There is little to say in this context.
• There is not much to say in this context.
• There is much to say in this context.
• There is everything to say in this context.
• There is a lot to say in this context.

All those nouns can be used to describe "quantify" or describe or state opinions about situations described by a to-infinitive.

There is little to stop your mind wandering back into everyday preoccupations= Not much can stop your mind wandering back etc.

There is little can be followed by a to-infinitive, but that to-infinitive has to make sense. "There is little to sleep" does not make sense as it does not describe an opinion or state an opinion about a situation, just like: There is not much to sleep. Buzzers for both those.

What works is: There is little to eat in the fridge. There is not much to eat in the fridge. That is an opinion or description of a situation.

"There is little to see from this vantage point".

Answer 4

This sense of little is the same as "There is little water in the bottle". It means that there is a small amount, not lots of water, and perhaps not enough.

So there is something to stop the mind from wandering back (I suppose your desire to remain focussed, for example) But this is not enough (usually) to stop the mind from wandering back to everyday worries.

It does not mean "it is hard", and so your examples are not idiomatic.

You might say "Little work is done at midnight"... (Only a small amount of work is done, usually not enough). Or "You'll get little sleep on a park bench" (not lots of sleep, and probably not enough).