Page 109 - English Vocabualry In Use 3 (Upper Intermediate)

51 Number, quantity, degree and intensity

A Number and quantity

Numberisusedforcountablenouns(e.g. a large number of students),amountforuncountablenouns
(e.g.alargeamountofmoney).

Someadjectivesforexpressingnumberandquantity:

smaller bigger

minute /maɪnjuːt/
average significant excessive vast
tiny considerable substantial enormous

Evenminuteamountsoftoxicmaterialcanbedangerous.(fml)
Addjustatinyamountofchillipepper,orelseitmaygettoohot.
Weretheremanypeopleattheairport?Oh,aboutaverage,I’dsay.(fairlyinformal)
Aconsiderablenumberofpeoplefailedtogettickets.(fml)
Asignificantnumberofstudentshavedroppedoutofuniversityinthelastyear.
[noticeablylarge]
Substantial amounts ofmoneyhavebeenwastedonthisproject.(fml)
Thereisanexcessiveamountofsugarinmanysoftdrinks.[toomuch;ratherformal]

Avast/Anenormousquantityofsandwasblownontotheroadduringthestorm.

B Informal words for number/quantity

I’vegotdozensofnailsinmytoolbox.[adozenis12;dozensofmeansmany;especiallyusedfor
countables]
Scores ofpeoplewereinjuredwhenthegastankexploded.[a score is 20 or about 20; scores of means a
large number of; usually formal]
There’sheaps/bags/loadsoftimeyet,slowdown!(usuallywithsingularthereis,notthereare;countable
or uncountable; infml)
Therewasabsolutelytonsoffoodattheparty–fartoomuch.(again,notesingulartherewas;especially
used for things, not so often used for abstract nouns)
Therearetonsofapplesonthistreethisyear–lastyeartherewerehardlyany.
(Note:Theverbhereispluralbecauseof‘apples’,butsingularintheexamplebeforewith‘food’–number
depends on the noun following, not on tons/lots/loads.)
Justadropofmilkforme,please.[tinyamountofanyliquid]

C Degree and intensity: collocations with utter(ly), total(ly), wholly

Utter(ly),total(ly)andwhollymeancomplete(ly).
Uttercombineswith‘strong’nounslikenonsense,contempt,silence,confusion,chaos
anddespair.
Therewasutterchaosduringthetransportstrike.

Utterlycombineswithadjectivessuchasridiculous, confused and impossible.
Iwasutterlyconfusedbytheinstructionmanualthatcamewithmycamcorder!

Totalcombinesmostoftenwithdisbeliefandban,e.g.Shelookedathimintotal disbelief.The
governmentintroducedatotalbanonsmokinginpublicplaces.

Totallycombinesmostoftenwithdifferent, unexpected, unsuitableandwrong,e.g.
Thetwobrothershavetotallydifferentpersonalities.

Whollycombinesmostoftenwithdependent, inadequateandunacceptable,e.g.
Thesuccessoftheprojectwaswhollydependentontheweather.

108 English Vocabulary in Use Upper-intermediate