What are quantifiers?
Quantifiers are adjectives and also adjectival phrases that make up important part of English grammar. They convey the notion of quantity (hence the word “quantifiers”) without mentioning the exact number. The main difficulty arises due to the need of selecting different quantifiers for countable and uncountable nouns, ...
They tell us something about the amount or quantity of something (a noun).
Some express a small or large quantity:
- Small: I have a few things to do before finishing work.
- Large: I have many things to do before finishing work.
Some express part of or all of a quantity:
- Part: It rains most days in winter.
- All: It rained all day yesterday.
They belong to a larger class called Determiner.
Examples
They can be a single word (e.g. some) or a phrase (e.g. a lot of). Those that appear as a phrase are often called Complex Quantifiers.
Simple Quantifiers: all, another, any, both, each, either, enough, every, few, fewer, little, less, many, more, much, neither, no, several, some.
Complex Quantifiers: a few, a little, a lot of, lots of
Position
We put them at the beginning of noun phrases.
quantifier + noun
- some people
quantifier + adjective + noun
- many old books
quantifier + adverb + adjective + noun
- a lot of very crazy drivers
We can also use them without a noun, like a pronoun.
- These books are old but some are still in good condition. (Some refers to some books)
Formal and Informal
Sometimes we can make a sentence more formal or more informal (or natural) just by changing the quantifier.
Many people where invited to the wedding. (formal)
A lot of people arrived late. (informal/natural)
They made little progress. (formal)
They didn't make much progress. (informal/natural)
You find below the sub-lessons under the main quantifiers lesson.