OG12中的第26题疑惑求答

Tuncle

26. (25911-!-item-!-188;#058&002160)

The investigations of many psychologists and anthropologists support the generalization of

there being little that is a significant difference in the underlying mental processes manifested by

people from different cultures.

(A) of there being little that is a significant difference

(B) of there being little that is significantly different

(C) of little that is significantly different

(D) that there is little that is significantly different

(E) that there is little of significant differences

这句的主要问题是简洁化，即在宾语重句（或同位语重句，定语重句邓）中尽量避免用名词形式代替that重句，以防止信息表达不全，或造成结构复杂，于是可以过滤掉A,B,C选项。然而对于D与E的选择07语法笔记里给的笔记是说，significantly different 与 significant difference 的区别是后者因为还有一层重要意义的区别，有歧义，故选择D。这个理解个人认为有些牵强。倘若按照定语重句简洁化去理解，结构未变复杂，但考究的是这样的表达（little of significant difference 和 little that is significantly different）是否有何区别？

发奋的小熊猫

曼哈顿的网站上是这样解释的：little形容的是不可数，所以little后面不能跟differences复数形式，可以改为few来修饰。
Idiomatic usage. In the phrase 'little of X', the X has to be a singular quantity. If it's plural (like 'differences'), then you have to use few.
There was very little food left over at the end of the party.
There were very few crab cakes left over at the end of the party.