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Take note of the following sentence:

Paul Newman himself thought little of them. [1]

In this sentence, is "little" modifying the verb " thought" as an adverb or there's something implicit between "little _____ of"? I could not understand.

Thank you

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I think it's functioning as an adverb or adverbial phrase. As for what's implied, I would say it's an idiom:

to think little [of someone] - to not have much respect for or to have a low opinion about someone

Similarly:

to think less [of someone] - to lower your opinion/have less respect than before

to think a lot [of someone] - to have a very high opinion of or a lot of respect for someone

to think more [of someone] - to raise your opinion/have more respect than before

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  • Thanks, @swmcdonnell! I've searched everywhere but forgot to check idioms ahaha. Take care.
    – Portugueseporto
    Commented Nov 10, 2022 at 2:50
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    +1 And it's worth noting this same sentence can mean, "Paul Newman himself didn't think about them very often."
    – gotube ♦
    Commented Nov 10, 2022 at 3:26
  • Thanks for adding more info, go!
    – Portugueseporto
    Commented Nov 10, 2022 at 3:39

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