QUANTIFIERS

QUANTIFIERS

We use quantifiers before nouns when we want to give information about the number or amount of something. Study the table below

Use with ...

Countable and uncountable nouns 

all, any, enough, a lot of, lots of, more, most, no, none of, some

Informal: plenty of, heaps of, a load of, loads of, tons of

We have lots of money to spend at the restaurant.

None of the boys could speak English.

Be patient. We have loads of time.

countable nouns only

• both, each, either, a number of, few, a few, fewer, neither, several

• Informal: a couple of, hundreds of, thousands of, millions of

• There were very few girls at the party.

• You have a couple of minutes to finish the exercise.

• That laptop costs hundreds of dollars

uncountable nouns only

a little, much, less, a bit of, an amount of

Informal: a great deal of, a good deal of

We don’t have much time left.

You will be in a great deal of trouble if you don’t finish your work.

The criminal had a large amount of cash on him

Things to remember 

 We use few to emphasise that there is a lack of something and a few to mean a sufficient number of something:

There were few people at the party so we left right away. (= a lack of people/not enough people)

There were a few people at the party so we decided to stay. (= some people)

We use little to emphasise that there is a lack of something and a little to mean a sufficient amount of something:

Hurry up! There is little time left. (= a lack of time/not enough time)

We have a little time left, so let’s continue our conversation. (= some time/enough time)

EXCERISE

Multiple Select

1.- There’s no need to hurry. We have _______ time left.

• LOTS OF

• LITTLE

Multiple Select

2.-Thanks for the invitation to your party. We had ______ fun.

• FEW

• LOTS OF

Multiple Select

3.-I’m afraid I have very

_____ coins on me. I’ll have to change some more money.

• LOTS OF

• FEW

Multiple Select

4.-We are still hungry. They served us very _______ food on the plane.

• LITTLE

• LOTS OF

Multiple Select

5.- It’s going to get cold this winter, so I suggest you buy ________ sweaters.

• A FEW

• A LITTLE

General vs. specific groups 

Groups in general

If you are talking about members of a group of people or things in general, use a noun after the quantifier:

Few people know the answer to the question.

All tigers are dangerous.

 Specific groups

If you are talking about a specific group of people or things, we can also add of + group:

Few of the people at the party were enjoying themselves.

All of the apples were rotten.

He has spent all of the money.

Things to remember 

• With specific noun groups, you must say the (or his, these, our, etc.) after of: 

•  In the phrases all of the...

Multiple Select

_______________ smartphones have batteries in them.

• ALL

• BOTH

Multiple Select

Have you seen _______ shops since we arrived here?

• ANY

• BOTH

Multiple Select

This is the best rock song of _______ time.

• MOST

• ALL