Hi!
Quantifiers are words that precede and modify nouns.
They tell us how many or how much. Selecting the correct quantifier
depends on your understanding the distinction between Countable and
Non-Countable Nouns. For our purposes, we will choose the countable noun
trees and the non-countable noun dancing
The following quantifiers will work with countable nouns:
- many trees
- a few trees
- few trees
- several trees
- a couple of trees
- none of the trees
The following quantifiers will work with non-countable nouns:
- not much dancing
- a little dancing
- little dancing
- a bit of dancing
- a good deal of dancing
- a great deal of dancing
The following quantifiers will work with both countable and non-countable nouns:
- all of the trees/dancing
- some trees/dancing
- most of the trees/dancing
- enough trees/dancing
- a lot of trees/dancing
- lots of trees/dancing
- plenty of trees/dancing
- a lack of trees/dancing
There is an important difference between “a little” and “little”
(used with non-countable words) and between “a few” and “few” (used with
countable words). If I say that Tashonda has a little experience in
management that means that although Tashonda is no great expert she does
have some experience and that experience might well be enough for our
purposes. If I say that Tashonda has little experience in management
that means that she doesn’t have enough experience. If I say that
Charlie owns a few books on Latin American literature that means that he
has some some books — not a lot of books, but probably enough for our
purposes. If I say that Charlie owns few books on Latin American
literature, that means he doesn’t have enough for our purposes and we’d
better go to the library.
This
should help you use the quantifiers correctly , but make sure to also
learn your countable and non-countable nouns too as that is crucial to
understanding quantifiers correctly.
We hope this lesson has reminded you of the importance of quantifiers (and the importance of dancing!)
Have a great day!
PS. Remember that if you have any grammar questions, let us know by asking them on our Facebook page. We will do our best to explain!
