This note is to show that iffis a nonconstant entire function that shares two pairs of small functions ignoring multiplicities with its first derivativef', then there exists a close linear relationship betweenfandf'. This result is a generalization of some results obtained by Rubel and Yang, Mues and Steinmetz, Zheng and Wang, and Qiu. Moreover, examples are provided to show that the conditions in the result are sharp.