QUANTITIES.CHART

THE QUANTIFIERS:
COUNTABLE AND UNCOUNTABLE NOUNS

Quantifiers with countable
and uncountable nouns
Adjectives and adjectival phrases that describe quantity are shown below. Some can only go with countable nouns (friends, cups, people), and some can only go with uncountable nouns (sugar, tea, money, advice). The words in the middle column can be used with both countable and uncountable nouns.

Only with uncountable nouns	With uncountable and countable nouns	Only with countable nouns
How much?	How much? or How many?	How many?
a little	no/none	a few
a bit (of)	not any	a number (of)
-	some (any)	several
a great deal of	a lot of	a large number of
a large amount of	plenty of	a great number of
-	lots of	-
+ noun

Note: much and many are used in negative and question forms.
Example:

• How much money have you got?
• How many cigarettes have you smoked?
• There's not much sugar in the cupboard.
• There weren't many people at the concert.

They are also used with too, (not) so, and (not) as :There weretoo many people at the concert - we couldn't see the band.
It's a problem when there are so many people.
There's not so much work to do this week.
In positive statements, we use a lot of:

• I've got a lot of work this week.
• There were a lot of people at the concert.

explicación en inglés, HOW TO EXPRESS QUANTITIES IN ENGLISH

There are many expressions used to express large amounts in English. In general, 'much' and 'many' are the standard quantifiers used to express large quantities.

'Much' is used with uncountable nouns:

There is much interest in learning English around the world.
How much money do you have?
There isn't much butter left in the refrigerator.

'Many' is used with countable nouns:

There are many people who use the computer every day.
How many students live close to the school?
There aren't many books on that shelf.

The following expressions are often used in place of 'much' and 'many', especially in positive sentences.

a lot of
lots of
plenty of
a great deal of
a large number of
the majority of

These expressions can are combined with 'of' in the sense of 'most', 'many' or 'much'.

A lot of people enjoy listening to jazz.
A great deal of time is spent understanding these issues.

Note that 'much', 'most' and 'many' does NOT take 'of'.

Most people enjoy listening to some type of music. (NOT: Most of people...)
Much time is spent understanding math. (NOT: Much of time is spent ...)

Formal / Informal

'A lot of / lots of / plenty of' are generally used in informal situations:

There will be a lot of food at the party.
There's plenty of time to finish your homework.

'A large amount of / a great deal of / a large number of / a majority of' are used in more formal situations, such as written business English and presentations.

There is a great deal of pressure to finish this project on time.
There are a large number of individuals who prefer to do banking online.

Countable / Uncountable

'A lot of / lots of / plenty of' are used with both countable and uncountable nouns.

There's a lot of juice in this jug.
There are plenty of opportunities to learn online.
There are lots of people who like chess.

'A large amount of / a great deal of' are used with uncountable nouns such as 'water, money, time, etc.'

There's a large amount of work to be done on this project.
There isn't a great deal of time to finish this report.

'A large number of / a the majority of' are used with countable nouns such as 'people, students, investors, etc.'

The majority of investors are interested in low-risk opportunities.
A large number of our pupils continue their studies at university.

QUANTITIES. EXERCISES

Quantities

Fill in the blanks with little,a little, few,a few.

1. I think there is .............hope to save his second foot. 

2. We spend ............. days at the farm. 

3. I have ............. money. 

4. We have had ............. problems lately. 

5. If I spend ...............time with him I will learn to support him. 

6. Take ...............banknotes in my wallet. 

7. He sees.............people 

8. Philip needs .............. love 

ANSWERS

RESULTS


1. I think there is few  little hope to save his second foot.
2. We spend a few  days at the farm.
3. I have a few  a little money.
4. We have had a little  a few problems lately.
5. If I spend few  a little time with him I will learn to support him.
6. Take a few  banknotes in my wallet.
7. He sees little  few people
8. Philip needs a little  love