2020- 21 FALL Compulsory Material

B1 Level Main Course Week 12

HANDOUT 12.2 QUANTIFIERS

Quantifiers show the speaker’s attitude towards the quantity he/she is referring to. Some expressions of quantity are
used only with countable nouns. Some are used only with uncountable nouns, and some are used with both
countable and uncountable nouns.
COUNTABLE Nouns
Singular Nouns
Expressions of Quantity Examples
a/an a book
one one book
every
We use every + singular noun to refer individually to all the Every player wants to be in a winning team.
members of a complete group of something:

each
We use each to refer to individual things in a group or a list Each ticket costs £10.
of two or more things. It is often similar in meaning
to every, but we use every to refer to a group or list of
three or more things.

plural
two, three etc. two books

several I've seen "Gone with the Wind" several times.

an amount that is not exact but is fewer than many.

a large(small) number of/ a good many I decided to go for a number of reasons.

They are used with the same meaning as a lot of. The There were a good many/ a large number of people
amount can change when “large” is changed with “small” there.
for “a…number of”.

both Both those chairs are occupied, I’m afraid. (The two

We use both to refer to two things or people together. chairs are occupied.)

few /a few All she wanted was a few moments on her own.

Few and a few mean ‘some’ but we use few to mean ‘not (some, a small number)
as much as may be expected or wished for’.
She had few moments on her own. (not many, almost
none)

a couple of I have a couple of things to do now.

It is used with the same meaning as a few.

(too) many* There are too many cars on the road. More people

We often use too before much and many. It means ‘more should use public transport.
than necessary’.
 2020- 21 FALL Compulsory Material
B1 Level Main Course Week 12

UNCOUNTABLE Nouns
Expressions of Quantity Examples
a little/ little She saves a little money every month. (some, a small
Little and a few mean ‘some’ but we use little to mean amount)
‘not as much as may be expected or wished for’
They had little money to spend.( not much/almost
nothing)

a bit of
We use it to express a slight but not a serious amount of Maria has put on a bit weight, hasn’t she?
something.

(too) much* I bought too much food. We had to throw some of it

We often use too before much and many. It means away.
‘more than necessary’.

a great/good deal of A great/good deal of research has been done already.

a large amount of
They are used with the same meaning as “a lot of”. A large amount of effort has been spent on the project.
The amount can be changed by using “small” instead of
“large” in “a……amount of”

*Much & Many

We usually use much and many with questions (?) and negatives (−):

“Is there much unemployment in that area?”

“How many eggs are in this cake?”
“It was pouring with rain but there wasn’t much wind.”
“There aren’t many women priests”.

In affirmative clauses we sometimes use much and many in more formal styles:

“There is much concern about drug addiction in the US”.

We use so rather than very before much and many in affirmative clauses to emphasize a very large quantity

of something:
“He has so much money!”

PLURAL COUNTABLE Nouns UNCOUNTABLE Nouns

Expressions of Quantity Examples
no* There are no pockets in There's no butter left.
these trousers.

any* There aren’t any biscuits left. Did you bring any bread?

We use any before nouns to refer They’ve eaten them all.
to indefinite or unknown
quantities or an unlimited entity.
 2020- 21 FALL Compulsory Material
B1 Level Main Course Week 12

It is mostly used in negative and

question sentences.

Some (of)** We had some friends round I've just had some chocolate.

for dinner on Saturday.
Can you please give me some of the
milk?

a lot of/ lots of/ plenty of We’ve got lots of things to do. That’s a lot of money.

We use a lot of and lots of in Don’t worry there are plenty Well, we’ve got plenty of rice. How
informal styles. Lots of is more of options. about risotto?
informal than a lot of. 

Most
We use most with nouns to mean She plays tennis most mornings. Most tap water is drinkable.
‘the majority of’.

All All information about the new

All means ‘every one’, ‘the All tickets cost 25 pounds. product is confidential.
complete number or amount’ or
‘the whole’.

none of**** None of his old friends knew what It doesn’t matter. None of it was
had happened to him. your fault.

hardly any
It is used to give the meaning of There were hardly any people There is hardly any milk for the
“almost no”. yesterday, so the meeting was baby. Why don’t you go and get
postponed to a further date. some?

enough I don’t have enough eggs to bake a There was enough food for about
cake. ten people.

*Any
We use any to mean ‘it does not matter which or what’, to describe something which is not limited. We use
this meaning of any with all types of nouns and usually in affirmative sentences.
“When you make a late booking, you don’t know where you’re going to go, do you? It could
be any destination.”

Any can be used as a pronoun (without a noun following) when the noun is understood.
“Have you got some £1 coins on you?”
“Sorry, I don’t think I have any.” 
 2020- 21 FALL Compulsory Material
B1 Level Main Course Week 12

“No” can be used instead of “not any”. The following sentences have the same meaning:
“There aren’t any biscuits left. They’ve eaten them all.”
“There are no biscuits left. They’ve eaten them all.”

** some of
We use some with of before the, demonstratives (this, that), pronouns (you, us) or possessives (my, your).
We use some of to refer to a part of a whole:
I wasn’t sure about some of the answers.

***None (of)
None is used as a pronoun. None of is used with nouns and requires either a singular or plural verb.
‘How many students are there in the class?’ ‘None.’
“None of the passengers were/ was injured in the plane crash.
or
“None were injured in the plane crash.

Exercise 1. Underline the best option.

1. There is hardly any / too much milk left, so we’ll have to buy some more.
2. I don’t think there is enough / plenty of salt in the soup, it does not taste nice.
3. You don’t have to hurry. There’s lots of /much time.
4. There’s only a little / a few paint left. Do you think it will be enough?
5. Can you wait a minute? There are a few / few things I have to do before I leave.
6. We need to find a larger room for the lecture. Enough / Too many people have turned up.
7. A large number / Too many people are being taken in by fraudsters on the Internet.
8. I have to work with the window closed on such a hot day because there is plenty of / too much noise outside.
9. A large amount / A good many of money raised by the charity has been donated to Somalia.

Exercise 2. Rewrite the sentences with the same meaning using the word in capitals.
1. There’s too little time to finish now. (NOT)
___________________________________________________________________________
2. All of my answers were right. (WRONG)
___________________________________________________________________________
3. There isn’t any money in your wallet. (IS)
___________________________________________________________________________
4. There weren’t many customers this morning. (VERY)
___________________________________________________________________________
5. Hundreds of people were queuing at the front entrance. (LARGE)
___________________________________________________________________________
6. There wasn’t much snow last night. (ANY)
 2020- 21 FALL Compulsory Material
B1 Level Main Course Week 12

___________________________________________________________________________
7. A lot of money has been spent on this project. (AMOUNT)
___________________________________________________________________________
8. There are hardly any taxis at this time of the night. (VERY)
___________________________________________________________________________

Exercise 3. Fill in the gaps with: little, a little, few or a few.

1. Look at the dark sky, there is _________ hope for bright and sunny weather tomorrow.
2. Really? The weather forecast says there is still _________ hope.
3. _________ people attended the meeting. I counted only four.
4. _________ people asked me how to felt. That was nice.
5. I´m glad that a lot of people have passed the test. In fact, there are _________ who haven´t.
6. “I will succeed, with _________ help from my friends”, she said.
7. She's gone already? And I am only _________ minutes late!

Exercise 4. Choose the correct option.

1. ……… children need the support in order to lead a happy and secure life.
a. each b. most of c. all d. a great deal of

2. My son doesn’t want to become a doctor because it takes …….. of time and study.
a. a great many b. a great deal c. too much d. hardly any

3. Do you think the police have collected ……….. evidence to convict him?
a. enough b. so many c. several d. a few

4. There is ……….. need to worry about your exam as I am sure you have done ………. revision
a. some/ none of b. much/ very few c.no/ plenty of d. none/ lots of

5. I don’t think we can manage to meet the increasing demand without employing …….. more workers.
a. much b. some c. a little d. no

6. We were ………. given a text of the same length, but the context was different in …………. text.
a. some/any b. every/ some c. all/each d. each/all

----------------------Answer Key---------------------
Exercise 1.
1. hardly any 2. enough 3. lots of 4. a little 5.a few
6. too many 7. Too many 8. too much 9. a large amount

Exercise 2.
1. There is not enough time to finish. / There isn’t much time to finish.
2. None of my answers were/ was wrong.
3. There is no money in your wallet.
4. There were very few customers this morning.
 2020- 21 FALL Compulsory Material
B1 Level Main Course Week 12

6. A large number of people were queuing at the front entrance.

6. There was hardly any snow last night.
7. A large amount of money has been spent on this project.
8. There are very few taxis at this time of the night.

Exercise 3.
1.little 2.a little 3.few 4.a few 5.few 6.a little 7.a few

Exercise 4.
1. C 2.B 3.A 4.C 5.B 6.C

Adapted from various resources including previous CDO materials, ELS and Cambridge Dictionary
By CDO ‘20