Quantifiers

Quantifiers

Quantifiers

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.

 

Lessons

  1. Graded quantifiers allow us to compare the quantity of one thing with the quantity of another, without specifying an exact quantity for either element. Graded quantifiers preceed nouns. Different quantifiers are needed for countable and uncountable nouns. Sometimes the noun can be omitted when it is understood from the context.
  2. Expressing Opinions About Quantity: the quantifiers few and a few, and little and a little seem nearly identical but they are actually quite distinct. These expressions show the speaker's attitude towards the quantity he is referring to as either positive or negative.
  3. Some and any are used with countable and uncountable nouns, to describe an indefinite or incomplete quantity. Some is used in positive statements: I had some rice for lunch. He's got some books from the library. It is also used in questions where we are sure about the answer: Did he give you some tea? (= I'm sure he did.)
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