English Grammar: Quantifiers

How to speak about the quantity of something in English? In this article, we will study the quantifiers, which can be used with the different nouns.

Firstly, let’s define what the quantifiers are. Those are the words, which are used with the nouns to show the quantity of something. Some of the popular quantifiers: several, few, little, some. Do you know, how can we use them?

The nouns may be countable and uncountable. Some nouns are used both as the countable, and the uncountable in different contexts.

We can count the countable nouns, there are singular and plural form of them:

• apple, apples;
• one dog, two dogs, many dogs.

We can’t count the uncountable nouns. Usually, they are used in a singular form (technology, love), but they may also be in a plural form (scissors, jeans).

Sometimes, the uncountable noun may be used as the countable, but its meaning changes in those conditions. For example, coffee is an uncountable noun, which becomes countable in the meaning «a cup of coffee».

Let’s divide all the quantifiers into two groups: the ones, which can be used with countable nouns, and the ones, which can be used with uncountable nouns.

With countable nouns:

• a few, few
• a couple
• some
• a lot of, lots of
• plenty of
• many
• not many
• how many
• any
• several
• a number of
• each, every
• most, most of the
• heaps of
• a load of, loads of
• enough
• quite a few
• a great number of

With uncountable nouns:

• a little
• very little
• some
• a lot of
• lots of
• plenty of
• any
• not much
• how much
• most, most of the
• heaps of
• a load of, loads of
• enough
• a bit of
• a large quantity of

Now, let’s view those quantifiers in more detail.

For the countable nouns:

• quite a few, a few – some, with the positive meaning (We have quite a few bottles of wine left in the cellar – there are a few bottles left)
• few, very few, hardly any – some, with the negative meaning, a few (We have very few bottles left – almost nothing left)
• several, a number of – more than a few, but not too much (They've had a number of arguments, but they're still getting married)

For the uncountable nouns:

• a little (NOT quite a little) – not many, with the positive meaning (I have a little water here – there is something)
• little, very little – quite little (I have very little water – almost nothing left)

For any noun:

• no – none at all (I have no biscuits)
• any – anything (You can borrow any book, I've read them all)
• a lot of, lots of, quite a lot of – many, but quite a lot of for the countable nouns, means quite a few (I will need quite a lot of water to make soup)
• a great deal of – a large amount, for the formal speech (A great deal of people was injured in the accident)
• most, most of the – the majority, most of the is used for the more concrete groups (Most girls want to get married. Most of the girls I know are very nice people)

For the nouns in singular form:

• whole – all, entire (I was very tired, so I spent the whole day in bed)

For the members of a group:

• each – two and more, when you think about every noun separately, however, this word may be used without a noun after it (Each girl wants to get married – we speak about every girl separately)
• every – three or more, every time (Every time I come to the bus stop, my bus has already passed)

Without a noun:

• none – none at all (I have no biscuits. There are none left)

Here is the infographic on this point, created by Green Forest:

And this guy will tell you about the difference between the meaning of the words “little” and “a little”, “few” and “a few”.

Don’t forget to practice!

• Choose the correct answer
• Fill in the gaps 
• Fill in the gaps (little/ a little, few/ a few)
• All quantifiers
• Little/ few/ much/ many/ some/ any
• Choose the correct answer 

We have reviewed the rules and the examples of the use of the Quantifiers in English. To know more about English grammar, read the other publications in the chapter Grammar!