Module 5
Lesson 3
Student’s Book pages 51–52
Grammar
Quantity words and expressions
Do you know how to use a, some, any, much and many?
Look at these examples to see how to use countable and uncountable nouns in a sentence.
I'm making a cup of tea.
There's some money on the table.
Have we got any bread?
How many chairs do we need?
How much milk have we got?
Nouns can be countable or uncountable. Countable nouns can be counted, e.g. an apple, two apples, three apples, etc.
Uncountable nouns cannot be counted, e.g. air, rice, water, etc. When you learn a new noun, you should check if it is countable or uncountable and note how it is used in a sentence.
Countable nouns
For positive sentences we can use a/an for singular nouns or some for plurals.
There's a man at the door.
I have some friends in New York.
For negatives we can use a/an for singular nouns or any for plurals.
I don't have a dog.
There aren't any seats.
Uncountable nouns
Here are some examples of uncountable nouns:
|
bread |
rice |
coffee |
information |
|
money |
advice |
luggage |
furniture |
We use some with uncountable nouns in positive sentences and any with negatives.
There's some milk in the fridge.
There isn't any coffee.
Questions
In questions we use a/an, any or how many with countable nouns.
Is there an email address to write to?
Are there any chairs?
How many chairs are there?
And we use any or how much with uncountable nouns.
Is there any sugar?
How much orange juice is there?
But when we are offering something or asking for something, we normally use some.
Do you want some chocolate?
Can we have some more chairs, please?
We also use some in a question when we think the answer will be 'yes'.
Have you got some new glasses?
Other expressions of quantity
A lot of (or lots of) can be used with both countable and uncountable nouns.
There are lots of apples on the trees.
There is a lot of snow on the road.
Notice that we don't usually use many or much in positive sentences. We use a lot of instead.
They have a lot of money.
However, in negative sentences we use not many with countable nouns and not much with uncountable nouns.
There are a lot of carrots but there aren't many potatoes.
There's lots of juice but there isn't much water.
A little, a few with a noun
We use a little with singular uncountable nouns. We use a few with plural countable nouns:
Mary said nothing, but she drank some tea and ate a little bread.
We stayed a few days in Florence and visited the museums.
Little, few with a noun
We use little with uncountable nouns. We use few with plural countable nouns. They are used in formal contexts:
I’m not very happy about it but I suppose I have little choice.
Few cities anywhere in Europe can match the cultural richness of Berlin.
[talking about a period of history]
At that time few people travelled who didn’t have to.
(A) little, (a) few without a noun
We can use (a) little and (a) few as pronouns. We can use them to substitute for a noun when it is obvious from the context:
After that, she began to tell them a little about her life in Scotland, particularly her life with the Rosenblooms.
Don’t take all the strawberries. Just have a few. (Just have a few strawberries.)
Little and few are not very common without a noun. We use them in formal contexts:
Little is known about his upbringing and education.
Few would be in favour of police officers carrying weapons.
- Few is a quantifier used with plural countable nouns.
- Without the article “a,” few emphasizes a small number of something.
- Adding the article removes the emphasis—a few means some.
- The same rule applies to little, which is used with singular uncountable nouns.