Correct, articles are dropped and sometimes arbitrarily added; at least the 'the' is. I wouldn't mind normally, but in the case of 'few' vs 'a few' it can be g

Correct, articles are dropped and sometimes arbitrarily added; at least the 'the' is. I wouldn't mind normally, but in the case of 'few' vs 'a few' it can be genuinely confusing because there is a drastic change of meaning.