Unit 3.2
Quantitative Determiners
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Introduction
Determiners are modifiers of nouns. They can provide information about which and how many/much people, things… we are talking about.
Quantitative determiners or quantifiers are used to indicate the quantity of something.
Form
Quantitative determiners come before a noun to indicate its amount or quantity.
The main quantitative determiners are:
- with countable nouns: (a) few, both and many…
- with uncountable nouns: (a) little, some and much…
Example
- Were there only a few people at work?
- There are shops on both sides of the street.
- So many people visit London during winter.
- How little sugar is left?
- Some people like football and basketball.
- We do not have much time.
Use
We use quantitative determiners with countable and uncountable nouns to indicate the quantity of something.
Countable nouns
- (A) few = little amount of something;
- Both = one and the other of a pair of things;
- Many = big amount of separated objects.
Uncountable nouns
- (A) little = small amount of something;
- Some = undefined but considerable amount of something.
- Much = big amount of a mass;
Summary
Quantitative determiners are used to indicate the amount or quantity of something. We use different quantitative determiners with countable and uncountable nouns:
- with countable nouns we can use the determiners (a) few, both and many…
- with uncountable nouns, we can use the determiners (a) little, some and much…
For example:
— Countable: “Can you buy a few coffees at the bar?” = Coffees refers to cups of coffee.
— Uncountable: “Can you buy some coffee at the supermarket?” = Coffee refers to coffee in powder.
Coffee can be both countable and uncountable, with a difference in meaning.
Let’s revise this content within the {Form} section. Take a look at the {Example} section that shows its use within a context.
Exercises
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