Quantifiers

Bautista Ramos

QUANTIFIERS

We use quantifiers when we want to give someone information about the number of something: how much or how many. The most common quantifiers are: much, many, (a) little, (a) few, a lot (of), some, any, no, none, most.

QUANTIFIERS:

Quantifiers

Much

Many

Countable

A lot of

Any

(a) Little

(a) Few

Any

Some

A lot (of)

Uncountable

Quantifiers

We use the quantifiers much, many, a lot of, lots of to talk about quantities, amounts and degree. Click on the pictures to understand the differences:

A LOT (OF)

MANY

MUCH

Much, Many, A lot of

+ Vowels

+ Consonants

An

A vs An

A is used before singular, countable nouns which begin with consonant sounds: * He is a teacher * I have a car

An is used before singular, countable nouns which begin with vowel sounds: * I am eating an apple * He is an actor

Any

Some

Some vs Any

Some is generally used with affirmative sentences both with countable and uncountable nouns. For example: * There is some cheese in the fridge. * There are some bottles on the table. We can also use "Some" with questions with the expression "would you like...". For example: *Would you like some coffee?

Any is always used with negative sentence and questions both with plural countable .nouns and with uncountable nouns. Let's examine these examples: * There isn't any wine left. * There aren't any bottles left * Is there any milk? * Are there any chairs here?

(A) few

(A) Little

(A) little vs (A) few

"Little" and "A little"are used with uncountable nouns, meaning "a small quantity". The difference between them is that "little" is used with negative meaning while "A little" is used with positive meaning. *Study the following examples: *She saves a little money every month. * I am not very happy because I've got little time

" Few" and "A few"are used with plural countable nouns, meaning "a small quantity". The difference between them is that "few" is used with negative meaning while "A few" is used with positive meaning. *Study the following examples: *Few people knew the answer. * I have got a few oranges.

Other quantifiers

Other quantifiers

"Most" meaning more than the half of something. We can also use "most of" if we refer to a specific group: * Most of our students are under 18 years old. If we are talking about two people or things, we can use the quantifiers "both", "either" and "neither". *Both students had a great mark. * There are two supermarkets in our village, but neither of them are open today. * Either of the two exams were really easy. "None" meaning not one of a group of people or things: *None of these pens work.

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