Expressions of quantity are words like many, much, a lot of, lots of, a few, and a little. We use these words before nouns.

Big quantities

For big quantities, we use many, much, and a lot of/lots of.

For negatives and questions we use many before count nouns and much before uncount nouns.

Count Nouns (many) Uncount Nouns (much)

books, people, computers, pens, desks, friends, cars, dollars, minutes

  • I don’t have many books.
  • Does she like many people?

music, water, rice, coffee, grammar, money, time, furniture

  • He doesn’t listen to much music.
  • Do you drink much coffee?

We can use use a lot of / lots of for positive sentences. The noun can be count or uncount.

  • I have a lot of books.
  • I have lots of books .
  • He likes a lot of music.
  • He likes lots of music.

Small quantities

For small quantities, we use a few for count nouns and a little for uncount nouns. You can use these words in positives, negatives, or questions.

Count Nouns (a few) Uncount Nouns (a little)
  • I have a few dollars.
  • He doesn’t like a few people.
  • Do you have a few minutes?
  • I want a little water.
  • We didn’t eat a little rice.
  • Will you spend a little money?

For Writing

In writing, it’s very important to use expressions of quantity.

  • Snakes are dangerous. Snakes can kill a person with one bite.

These sentences don’t use any expressions of quantity, so the sentences mean:

  • All snakes are dangerous. All snakes can kill a person with one bite.

Readers know that this isn’t true. Some snakes are not dangerous. Most snakes can’t kill people in one bite. If readers read a sentence like “snakes can kill a person with one bite,” they may not trust the writer. We should write:

  • A lot of snakes are dangerous. A few snakes can kill a person with one bite.

Exercise

Open the exercise to begin the activity. Follow the instructions in the document.

Exercises

keyboard_arrow_up