Lesson 1 - Grammar - RELIGION AND BELIEFS
- Ćwiczenie 1 aqm
Quantifiers answer the question ‘how much/how many?’
Some quantifiers can be used with only countable nouns, others with uncountable nouns, and some with both.
- Quantifiers with countable nouns:
- Are there any bananas?
- How many bananas are there?
- There are some bananas.
- There are a lot of / plenty of / hundreds of bananas.
- There are too many bananas.
- There aren’t many / There are a few bananas.
- There aren’t any bananas.
- Quantifiers with uncountable nouns:
- Is there any bread?
- How much bread is there?
- There is some bread.
- There is a lot of / plenty of bread.
- There is too much bread .
- There isn’t much / There is a little bread.
- There isn’t any bread.
Note: Much and many are most often used in questions and negatives. In affirmative statements, we use a lot of. Some is usually used in affirmative statements and any in negatives.
Read the explanations for little and few and a little and a few, then complete the sentences with the correct quantifier:
• Little and few (without ‘a’) are negative ideas (= not much / not many):
You must be quick – there is little time. (= not much, not enough time)
She isn’t very popular. She has few close friends. (= not many, not enough friends)
• A little and a few are more positive.
A little = some, a small amount:
Let’s go and have coffee. We’ve got a little time before the next lecture. (a little time = some time, enough time to have coffee)
A few = some, a small number:
‘When did you last talk to your boss?’ ‘A few hours ago.’ (= some hours ago)
Adapted from: English Grammar In Use, Raymond Murphy, Cambridge University Press:1995
- Ćwiczenie 4 aqm
