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Non-Count Nouns: Amount and How Much Refer To Non-Count Nouns While Number and How Many Refer To Count Nouns

Quantifiers are words used before nouns to indicate amount or number. Amount/how much are used with non-count nouns while number/how many are used with count nouns. Examples of quantifiers that can only be used with non-count nouns include a little, not much, little, too much. Examples that can only be used with count nouns include few, many, several, a couple of. Some quantifiers like some, a lot of, plenty of, enough can be used with both count and non-count nouns. Few and little without "a" mean very few or little. A few is more than few and a little is more than little. Lots of and a lot of

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86 views

Non-Count Nouns: Amount and How Much Refer To Non-Count Nouns While Number and How Many Refer To Count Nouns

Quantifiers are words used before nouns to indicate amount or number. Amount/how much are used with non-count nouns while number/how many are used with count nouns. Examples of quantifiers that can only be used with non-count nouns include a little, not much, little, too much. Examples that can only be used with count nouns include few, many, several, a couple of. Some quantifiers like some, a lot of, plenty of, enough can be used with both count and non-count nouns. Few and little without "a" mean very few or little. A few is more than few and a little is more than little. Lots of and a lot of

Uploaded by

Jakaria Saja
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Quantifiers are words that come before nouns in order to indicate the amount or how much of a non-

count noun is being stated, or the number or how many of a count noun is being stated. Remember that
amount and how much refer to non-count nouns while number and how many refer to count nouns.
Let's look at a few examples.

Non-count nouns
"The students have a tremendous amount of work to complete before the end of the year."
"His fuel gauge was not working, so he didn't know how much gas was left."

Count nouns
"The number of people in the club exceeded the maximum occupancy."
"I don't remember how many times I have been to New York."
There are some quantifiers which are used only with non-count nouns. Here are a few examples: a
little, not much, little, or too much.
There are some quantifiers which are used only with count nouns. Here are a few examples: few,
many, several, or a couple of.
There are some quantifiers which are used with both non-count and count nouns. Here are a few
examples: some, a lot of, plenty of, or enough.

Quantifiers in English: few, little, lots of

Quantifiers are an important part of English grammar. We can use a few, a little, a lot and lots of to
mean "not very much", "not very many" and "plenty of". The one you choose depends on what type of
noun you are describing.

Few and little


We use a few with plural, countable nouns. For example, "A few people came to the party."
We use a little with uncountable nouns. For example, "There's a little coffee left, if you would like
some."
We can also use few and little (without "a") to mean very few or very little (i.e. much less in quantity).
For example, "There's little point in calling" (= there's not much point calling).
"There were few people at the concert."
"A few" is more in quantity than "few"; and "a little" is more in quantity than "little".
"Few people understand" (not many people understand), compared to "a few people understand" (some
people understand).
In spoken English, we can also say not many, or only a few to mean "few" and only a little or not
much to mean "little".
"Not many people came to the party." Or "Only a few people came to the party."
"There was only a little petrol left in the car." Or "There wasn't much petrol left in the car."
Making comparisons
The comparative form of "few" is fewer, and the comparative form of "little" is less.
Remember: use "fewer" for plural, countable nouns, and "less" for uncountable nouns.
For example, "There are fewer people here than last year" or "He drinks less coffee than I do".
It is grammatically incorrect to say "There are less people here than last year", as "people" is a plural
countable noun.

Lots of and a lot of


In spoken English we often use lots of or a lot of. In written English, it is more common to write many
(for countable plural nouns) or a great deal of (for uncountable nouns) in positive statements.
A common mistake is to use lot of. For example, "There are lot of accidents on this road". To avoid
making this mistake, remember either to use a before lot, or to make lot plural – lots.
We can say either a lot of or lots of before a noun. For example, "There are a lot of people here" or
"There are lots of people here". There isn't any difference between the two expressions.
We can also use a lot as an adverb to say how much you do something. For example, "She talks a lot".
A lot is also used in short answers. For example, "Do you like swimming?", "Yes, a lot."

1. How players are in a handball team?


2. How pocket money do you get per week?
3. How time is left?
4. How sisters does Ella have?
5. How coins did you find yesterday?
6. How water is in this bottle?
7. How crosswords did she solve correctly?
8. How milk do they have for breakfast?
9. How bikes were stolen last year?
10. How coffee do your parents drink per day?

11. There isn't milk left in the fridge.


12. You shouldn't eat so sweets.
13. My friend doesn't eat fruit.
14. They don't know about the history of their country.
15. I don't have time to practise basketball.
16. There aren't people in the shops today?
17. There is not homework to do.
18. How of you are coming to the party?
19. We don't have oranges, and we don't have olive oil.
20. There wasn't dust in that house, was it?

pupils fun time


time dogs pencils
money people cheese
dollars CDs cornflakes
milk music pizzas
children cups lemonade
water juice

 1. There wasn't ___ traffic this morning.


a few
much
many
 2. There was ___ information given during the class.
much
many
none
 3. The ___ of advice he received was well worth the cost.
amount
number
much
 4. How ___ people will be coming to the party tonight?
many
lots
much
 5. Unfortunately, she doesn't have very ___ friends
many
a lot of
much
 6. I bought some milk, some apples, and a ___ bananas.
little
lots of
few
 7. There are a lot of movies I like, but ___ that I would see twice.
little
plenty
few
 8. We just bought a new house with ___ furniture included.
plenty of
several
few
 9. The ___ of students at the school has increased.
amount
some
number
 10. There is ___ water on the floor because of the storm last night
few
a little
lots

1. There are __ biscuits in the packet.

a few
a little
a lot
Use 'a few' with plural, countable nouns. ('Biscuits' is a plural, countable noun because the 's' shows
it's plural, and because you can count the number of biscuits.)

2. We've got __ time before the plane leaves.

a few
a little
a lot
Use 'a little' before uncountable nouns. ('Time' is uncountable. Some nouns are 'concept' nouns, and
these nouns are uncountable. You can count hours and minutes, but not the general concept of time.)

3. 'Few of my students remember the third person singular 's' ending on verbs'' means that::

not many students understand (maybe 2 or 3)


some students understand (maybe 6 or 7)
none of my students understand (0 students)
'Few' is less in number than 'a few'. For example, a few = 5 or 6, but few = 2 or 3.

4. He always gets __ presents than his sister on his birthday.

a lot of
fewer
less
'Fewer' is the comparative form of 'few'.

5. I have __ money than you.

a lot
fewer
less
'Less' is the comparative form of 'little'. Use it with uncountable nouns.

6. There are __ people in the supermarket today.

a lot
fewer
little
Use 'fewer' with plural countable nouns. ('Little' means 'small' when you use it as an adjective.)

7. She has __ friends.

lot of
lots of
a lot
Use 'lots of' to mean 'many'.

8. He earns __ money.

a lot
a lot of
lots
Be careful: a common mistake is to use 'a lot' or 'lots' instead of 'a lot of' or 'lots of' before the noun.

9. She wears __ gold jewellery.

lots
a lot
lots of
This is the same for both plural, countable and uncountable nouns. The correct form is 'lots of' or 'a
lot of' - not 'lots' or 'a lot' before the noun.

10. He eats __.


lots of
a lot
fewer
'A lot' is an adverb. It describes the verb (in this example 'eats').

11. Do you like hip-hop music?


Yes, __

lots of
much
a lot
You can also use 'a lot' in short answers.

12. There's __ money in my wallet.

few
much
a little
Remember: 'money' is an uncountable noun.

13. They have __ information on their website.

much
few
very little
You can also use 'very' before 'little' or 'few' to show that there isn't very much of something.
(Remember: 'information' is an uncountable noun.)

14. They have __ customers.

very little
very few
a lot
'Customers' is a plural, countable noun.

15. He eats __ sweet food.

lots of
few
a lot
16. He has __ free time.

lots
few
a lot of
Remember: you can use both 'a lot of' and 'lots of' with plural and uncountable nouns (but not 'lots' or
'a lot' before the noun.)

17. There's only __ milk left in the fridge.

lots
a few
a little
Milk, like all liquids, is uncountable.

18. You smoke __

much
a lot
few

19. He doesn't earn __

fewer
little
a lot

20. I have __ good friends.

a few
a lot
little

choose a word from the table below to fill each space. Some words may be used more than once.

a a lot of
a few some
any many
a little an
much a lot
1. How children do you and Tony have?
2. I don't have patience and I find jigsaw puzzles boring.
3. We only have carrots. We should go and buy some more.
4. "Do we need any mushrooms?" "No, we have . Look, three bags!"
5. There was an explosion at the factory and people were injured. We don't know how many yet.
6. When you make the pie, put wine in too. But not too much! It makes it really tasty.
7. When you go out, buy me apple and a bottle of Coke.
8. I don't need advice from you. You don't understand the problem!
9. "Do you like this programme?" "Not . You can change the channel if you want."
10. Lots of people in Spain like to take siesta during the hottest part of the day.
11. I have been to America times. Twice in 1996 and again last year.
12. Can you give me information about the buses in the city centre please?
13. people think he is stupid, but he's actually quite intelligent.

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