Level: beginner
We use quantifiers when we want to give someone information about the number of something: how much or how many.
Sometimes we use a quantifier in the place of a determiner:
Most children start school at the age of five.
We ate some bread and butter.
We saw lots of birds.
Quantifiers with count and uncount nouns
We can use these quantifiers with both count and uncount nouns:
| all | some | more | a lot of | enough |
| no | any | most | lots of | less |
We have lots of time.
Joe has lots of friends.
I can't go out. I've got no money.
There was a lot of food but no drinks.
- Quantifiers with count and uncount nouns 1
- Quantifiers with count and uncount nouns 2
Level: intermediate
These more colloquial forms are also used with both count and uncount nouns:
| plenty of | heaps of | a load of | loads of | tons of |
We have loads of time.
Joe has plenty of friends.
There was heaps of food.
Level: beginner
some and any
We do not normally use the quantifier some in negative and interrogative sentences. We normally use any:
Do you have any children?
Did you see any friends?
We don't have any children.
I didn't see any friends.
We saw some lions at the zoo, but we didn't see any tigers.
but we can use some for offers and requests:
Would you like some tea?
I want some apples, please.
- some and any 1
- some and any 2
Quantifiers with count nouns
Some quantifiers can be used only with count nouns:
| (not) many | each | either | (a) few |
| several | both | neither | fewer |
These more colloquial forms are used only with count nouns:
| a couple of | hundreds of | thousands of |
I’ll be back in a couple of minutes.
There were hundreds of people at the meeting.
Quantifiers with uncount nouns
Some quantifiers can be used only with uncount nouns:
| (not) much | a bit of | a little |
Would you like a little wine?
Could I have a bit of butter, please?
These quantifiers are used particularly with abstract nouns such as time, money and trouble:
| a great deal of | a good deal of |
It will probably cost a great deal of money.
He spent a good deal of time watching television.
- Quantifiers with count and uncount nouns 3
- Quantifiers with count and uncount nouns 4
Level: intermediate
Members of groups
We put a noun directly after a quantifier when we are talking about members of a group in general:
Few snakes are dangerous.
Most children like chocolate.
I never have enough money.
but if we are talking about members of a specific group, we use of the as well:
Few of the snakes in this zoo are dangerous.
Most of the boys at my school play football.
He’s spent all (of) the money that we gave him.
Both (of) the chairs in my office are broken.
Note: with all and both, we don’t need to use of. We can say all the … and both the … .
both, either and neither
If we are talking about two people or things, we use the quantifiers both, either and neither:
| One supermarket | Two supermarkets | More than two supermarkets |
|
The supermarket |
Both the supermarkets |
All the supermarkets |
|
The supermarket |
Neither of the supermarkets was open. |
None of the supermarkets |
|
I don’t think the supermarket |
I don’t think either of the supermarkets |
I don’t think any of the supermarkets |
Note that nouns with both have a plural verb but nouns with either and neither have a singular verb.
- both, either and neither 1
- both, either and neither 2
every and each
We use the quantifiers every and each with singular nouns to mean all:
There was a party in every street. (= There were parties in all the streets.)
Every shop was decorated with flowers. (= All the shops were decorated with flowers.)
Each child was given a prize. (= All the children were given a prize.)
There was a prize in each competition. (= There were prizes in all the competitions.)
We often use every to talk about times like days, weeks and years:
When we were children, we had holidays at our grandmother's every year.
When we stayed at my grandmother's house, we went to the beach every day.
We visit our daughter every Christmas.
We do not use a determiner with every and each:
Every shop was decorated with flowers. (NOT
The every shop)
Each child was given a prize. (NOTThe each child)
Hello Ahmed Imam,
In this context both are possible.
We use each when we are thinking of all of the individuals, and every when we want to talk about the group as a whole; every is similar to ‘all’ or ‘everybody’.
The main different between them in terms of meaning is that we can use each to talk about two or more things but we can only use every when there are more than two.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Peter
I just want to know the writer of this post because i want to cite some information from this post in my research paper.
Hello Ahmed Saboro,
Do you mean the author of this explanation of Quantifiers? If so, his name was David Willis.
Hope this helps you.
All the best,
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello yaya aly,
'both days' is best here. 'all' usually refers to at least three items.
All the best,
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello yaya aly,
The second one (with 'neither') is the correct option here.
All the best,
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
Hi mynameiscg,
Yes, it's correct :)
Jonathan
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Ahmed Imam,
1 is correct and 2 is not.
All the best,
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Quynh Nhu,
The verb following this structure should agree with the final item. If the final item is third-person, then the verb will agree with this:
When the preposition is repeated you can omit it. Thus it's fine to omit the second 'on' in your example. Obviously, if the preposition is different then it needs to be included:
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Alex Woods,
The subject of the verb here is not just 'the supermarkets', it's 'neither of the supermarkets'. 'neither' is singular, and so a singular verb like 'was' is correct.
People also use a plural verb (like 'were') here too, though, since the whole phrase refers to more than one supermarket.
By the way, our site is for people who are 18 or older. I'd suggest you have a look at our sister site LearnEnglish Teens.
All the best,
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Omyhong,
Both singular and plural verbs are possible. Using a singular verb is a bit more formal than using a plural one.
All the best,
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello again Ahmed Imam,
The first sentence does not really make sense. We would say omit 'very few':
The sentence tells us that because Tom is careful, he does not make many mistakes, so we need something which means 'not many', 'not a lot', 'not a huge number of' etc. This sentence implies that if Tom were less careful then he would make more mistakes, and (with the change above) it has a very similar meaning to the second sentence.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Ahmed Imam,
Grammatically, the sentence is fine. Obviously, whether or not it makes sense in a given context will depend on the context.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Ahmed Imam,
No, I'm afraid that's not correct. I'd recommend 'The table is too heavy to move'.
All the best,
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Ahmed Imam,
If you change it to 'Neither of my parents ...' it will be correct.
All the best,
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
Hi Ahmed Imam,
The examples are interesting!
Sentences 1 and 2 mean that 100% of the people were unhappy (i.e. nobody was happy). In these two sentences, all relates to the subject of the sentence.
Sentence 3 means that some people were happy, but not all of them. This meaning is different from sentences 1 and 2 because of the word order: all is after the negative (weren't) in the word order. 'Not all' means that there is some quantity (i.e. greater than 0), but not as much as 100%.
Does that make sense?
Best wishes,
Jonathan
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Ahmed Imam,
No, in this sentence, 'all' modifies the subject 'we' -- it's another way of saying 'Not all of us were happy with the result'.
When 'all' modifies the subject, it can go in the same position as an adverb. You can see more about this in this explanation of All as an adverb).
All the best,
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Ahmed Imam,
All day means that you do not get up at all in a twenty-four hour period. It describes what you do on a particular day. It does tell us if you do the same on other days.
Every day means that you are in bed for multiple days without change.
It's quite possible for someone to stay in bed all day, every day.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hi Rafaela1,
Yes :) These quantity expressions are all commonly used. Your sentences 1 and 3 are correctly written. Sentence 2 needs of: a load of pumpkins.
Best wishes,
Jonathan
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Ahmed Imam,
No, the sentence is not correct. If I understand you correctly, then you want to say that sometimes it's not possible for people to live comfortably, no matter how hard they work. If so, you could say this:
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Ahmed Imam,
The sentence is fine grammatically, but I'm not sure it means what you intend.
The suggestion in your sentence is that people could live comfortably if they were able to work harder. In other words, it suggests that the problem is with the people and their inability to work hard, not with the circumstances around them.
In my examples, the meaning was different. My sentences meant that people work hard, but it is not enough. In other words, they cannot achieve a comfortable life even if they work hard.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hi Ahmed Imam,
Yes, both are correct, and the meaning is the same. But the second sentence, with its greater amount of structural repetition, sounds more formal in style.
Best wishes,
Jonathan
The LearnEnglish Team
Hi Pyae phyo maung,
Drink is a countable noun and has a plural form. When we use no to mean not any, we use the plural:
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Ahmed Dawoud,
All comments on LearnEnglish are moderated before they are published. That means a member of the LearnEnglish Team reads your comment to ensure it complies with site rules and is not advertising/spam etc.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hi Ahmed Dawoud,
The correct choice here is either with the meaning not one and not the other.
It's unusual to use 'both' in a negative sentence. We can do it when we want to express the meaning of only one and not the other, and we need to include a phrase to make this clear:
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Victoria
Yes, 'money' is always an uncount noun. There might be some instances where it's more abstract, but in general it's a concrete noun.
All the best
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team