Page 11 - PDF_Oxford Grammar for Schools 5_Neat 1

Quantifiers

I can describe quantity; Ican talk about problems of quantity.

(Not) much, (not) many,several, lots, a lot of, (a) few, (a) little

B.ut Loote! Tfoere are oiÿLy a coupLe of
biscuits, a few cris-ps aiÿd a bit of
appLejuice, lhat Isuv't ewugkl

o\\ dear ... too
f ríemete, i/vot eiÿouc0h

There's ewugk food for every o vÿt.
we've got Lots of biscuits, Lots of
crisps avÿd Lots of appLejuice.

We often use some and any with countable and To talk about very large quantities we use a lot of/
uncountable nouns,but when we want to give more lots of + noun (countable or uncountable).
information about quantities, we use other quantifiers. There were lotsof/a lot ofpeopleot thepark.
We've got lotsof/alotoftime.
uncountable nouns
We can use a lot on its own.
much a little/a bit of little/not much 350people?That's a lot!

To talk about quite large numbers - about three or
uncountable nounsand plural countable nouns four - we can use several + countable noun.

lots of/a lot of no Severalpeoplewant to buy this house.
I'vespoken toJim severaltimes.

plural countable nouns To talk about small quantities we can use a couple
of countable noun and a bit of + uncountable noun.
+
many a couple of several
We needa couple ofplates. (=two)
few/not many a few
There's a bitofwater on the floor. (= a small amount )
We can also use (a) little and (a) few.
In questions about quantity we use much and many.
Were there manypeopleat the park? A few and a little have a positive meaning.
Howmuch time do wehave? It'sOK. We stillhavealittle water.
Areyouhungry?Ithink I havea few biscuitsin mybag.
We also use much and many in negative sentences.
There aren't many cups. Fewand little (without a) have a negativemeaning.
I don't needmuch time. I'mafraidI'vemadelittleprogress this afternoon.
Theyplanteda lotofseeds butfew plantsgrew.

Unit 2 11