Quantifiers

We haven't got _____ petrol. We need to stop and get some.

• much

• many

• little

Answer explanation

We use much with uncountable nouns and petrol is an uncountable noun. We don't normally use little in negative sentences; we could use it if the sentence was affirmative: We have little petrol.

We had ________ rain last autumn.

• a lot of

• much

• many

Answer explanation

We use a lot of because it's an affirmative sentence, and we don't normally use much or many in affirmative sentences.

There was ________ food in the fridge. It was nearly empty.

• little

• a little

• few

Answer explanation

We use little (without a) because the meaning is negative –the fridge is almost empty. If we say 'a little food' it means that there isn't much food, but there is enough.

You travel a lot. Have you been to _____ countries?

• much

• many

• few

Answer explanation

We use many because countries is a plural noun (countable). We can't use few because we are talking about a large quantity, and not a small quantity; if someone travels a lot, that means that they have been to many countries, not few.

It costs _____ money to give your children a good education.

• much

• many

• a lot of

Answer explanation

We use a lot of because it’s an affirmative sentence, and we don’t normally use much or many in affirmative sentences.

There was ________ space for all the people who came.

• very little

• very few

• many

Answer explanation

We use a little because space is an uncountable noun; we use few and many with plural (countable) nouns.

There's _____ of sun cream in the bottle.

• a bit

• a little

• a few

Answer explanation

We can only use a bit because little and few cannot be followed by of.

We need to go to the greengrocer's. There are _____ potatoes left.

• few

• a few

• a little

Answer explanation

We use few (without a) because the meaning is negative, the amount of potatoes we have is not enough and we need to go to the shop.➪ The difference between a few/a little (WITH a) and few/little (WITHOUT a) is that a few/a little are positive in meaning, and few/little are negative.

There was _____ traffic so we arrived very early.

• a little

• a few

• little

Answer explanation

We use little (without a) because the meaning is negative, the amount of traffic was not enough to make us arrive late. And we can't use few because traffic is an uncountable noun.

We spent too _____ money on our last holiday.

• many

• much

• a lot of

Answer explanation

We use much with uncountable nouns and money is an uncountable noun. And we don’t normally use much/many in affirmative sentences, but we can use too much and too many in affirmative sentences.