fewer和a fewer表单数还是复数？

问题描述

下面两道辅导班的题：
(1) Good news!There _______ fewer people catching this kink of illness now.
A. are  B. is  C. has  D. have
(2) There _______ a fewer students in the library after school every day.
A. has been  B. have been  C. is  D. are
对于（2）题，老师说正确答案选C，我认为应选D，因为 a fewer 是修饰 students 的，中心词是 students，students 是复数。但老师说有a算单数，比如a pair of shoes就是单数。我紧接着问那么（1）题为何选A，老师说（1）题无a。
我赞成（1）题选A，但理由是people是复数。另外我觉得 few、a few 应该用原级，因为没有比较对象。如果用比较级正确的话，在整个句子翻译上与用原级有何差别？我认为老师的观点不正确。请专家指教，谢谢！

老师答疑

罗老师：

1) Good news !There _____________ fewer people catching this kind of illness now.

A are B is C has D have

(2) There____________ a fewer students in the library after school every day.

A has been B have been C is D are

首先我说一下我的答案，题一A；题二没答案。

为什么第二题没有呢，我认为第二题就是错题，a few一般就不用比较级和最高级，而是few的比较级是fewer，fewest。所以第二题我认为可以有两种改法：

1. There are a few students in the library after school every day.

2. There are fewer students in the library after school every day.

通过修改的还说明一个问题，a few + 复数名词，前面的系动词用复数。

回过头来说说第一题，用fewer比较级很好，因为在句末有now，说明暗含的意义是和过去比较。第二题两种均可。

董老师：

罗老师，如果把（1）题中的fewer改成few可否？假设无now，用fewer或few哪一个更好？