Quantifiers: some, any, much, many, little, few, and a lot

Complete the sentences with some or any.

1. I wanted to buy _______ biscuits, but I didnt have _______ money, so I went home to get_______.
2. Do you have __________ brothers or sisters?
3. Would you like _________ sugar?

Now complete the rules. Use some or any.

a. In positive sentences, we use _________ before uncountable nouns and plural countable nouns.
b. In negative sentences and questions, we use _________ before uncountable nouns and plural
countable nouns.
c. In requests, even though they may have a question form, we use _________ before uncountable
nouns and plural countable nouns.

Some
1. Affirmatives: There are some people waiting outside.
2. Questions +yes: Would you like some orange juice?
3. Requests: May I have some tea?
4. (=certain): Some people believe everything
5. Some=several: I havent phoned my uncle for some years.

Any
1. Negatives: I dont want any sugar.
2. Uncertain questions: Do you have any money on you?
3. With hardly, etc.: Theres hardly any rain.
4. With at all: I havent any idea at all.
5. After if: Buy some apples if you see any.
6. Any=it doesnt matter who or which: Any fool knows the right answer.

Exercise with some and any

Put in some, any or -.
1. We cant do without ___________ bread.
2. There isnt ___________ smile in that girl.
3. Buy ___________ bread and cheese for the picnic, if you want to help.
4. I like ___________ biscuits and ___________ sweets.
5. ___________ doctor(s) will tell you that it is harmful.
6. Theres hardly ___________ milk in the bottle.
7. If you have ___________ news call me back.
8. Go and ask him for ___________ paper. I havent ___________ in my desk.
9. Can we have ___________ milk?
10. What material do you need? ___________ that is available.
11. Put ___________ spices into the soup.
12. I hate ___________ bad news.
13. There arent ___________ buses after ten oclock.
14. I havent got ___________ friends at all.
15. I can answer only ___________ questions on the subject.
16. Dont let us have ___________ nonsense about it.
17. Lets go back home, its late. Id rather stay out a little longer. I suppose weve got
to go home ___________ time.
18. I dont think there is ___________ milk left in the jug.

Complete the sentences with some or any. (I)

1. There are ________ books on the shelf.
2. There isnt _____ water in the glass.
3. Would you like _____ tea?
4. There isnt ______ information in this book.
5. Do you need _______help?

6. Give me _______ colour pencils to draw a picture.

7. I heard ______ good news yesterday.
8. We didnt learn ______new grammar rules at the English lesson yesterday.
9. Did you see _______children in the playground?
10. There aren't _______ boys in the hall.
11. They have _______pretty dresses in the store.
12. Dont tell me ______ bad news.
13. Did she tell you about _____ of her experience.
14. The baby is asleep. Dont make _______ noise.

Complete the sentences with some or any. (II)

Stanley: I'm so hungry and there is nothing in the fridge! There aren't (I) _________bananas and there isn't (2)
________ yoghurt.
Peter: Well, we can cook something! Let's make pancakes!
Stanley: OK. We need (3) ______flour, (4) ______ milk, (5) _____sugar and eggs. Have we got (6)
______eggs? Peter: Yes. There are (7) ______eggs in the fridge.
Stanley: Now, have we got (8) ________flour?
Peter: Yes. There's (9) ________flour in that cupboard.
Stanley: Great! Have we got (10) _____milk?
Peter: There's (11)______ milk in that bottle.
Stanley: Are we ready? Can we make the pancakes? I'M HUNGRY!
Peter: No, we can't. We haven't got (12)______ eggs.
Stanley: Eggs? We've got two eggs. They're on the table!
Peter: No, they aren't. They're on the floor!

Complete the sentences with much, many, or a lot (of).

1. There are ___________ people here.
2. Patrick didnt have __________ time.
3. We havent seen __________ places yet.
4. There wasnt ___________ point in hanging around.
5. Gary doesnt seem to have __________ friends, but his brother has __________.
6. The tourist office didnt have ___________ information to give us.

Now complete the rules. Use much, many, or a lot (of).

a. In positive sentences, we use _________ before uncountable nouns and plural countable nouns.
b. In negative sentences and questions, we use _________ before uncountable nouns and ________
before plural countable nouns. However, it is possible to use _________.

Much/Many
1. in negative statements:
There isnt much space in this flat.
There arent many pandas in China.
2. in questions:
Is there much demand for silk stoking?
Will there be many guests at the party?
3. in formal statements:
Much money is spent for shopping.
Many teachers retire early.
4. in time references:
Ive lived here for many years.
A lot of (lots of)
We use a lot of with plural countable or singular uncountable nouns: a lot of books.
1. in the affirmative sentences:
She spends a lot of money on clothes.
There were such a lot of people in the shops.
2. in negative statements for emphasis:
I havent got a lot of time for people like him.
If we use a quantifier on its own (not in front of a noun or pronoun) we do not use of:
Did you buy any fruit? Yes, I bought a lot/lots.

Decide whether you have to use much or many. Tick the correct answer.
A ( )MUCH

B ( )MANY

TEA

A ( )MUCH

B ( )MANY

FLOWERS

A ( )MUCH

B ( )MANY

MONEY

A ( )MUCH

B ( )MANY

FOOD

Choose whether to use MUCH or MANY in the sentences?

1. My brother is very busy. He hasn't got ___________time.
2. There is too ___________noise in the street. I can't sleep.
3. How___________ eggs do I need for an omelet.
4. Does your student know___________ words in English?
5. Because of e-mails, people don't receive ___________letters nowadays.
6. My mother always put too ___________salt when she cooks.
7. There haven't been___________ sunny days lately.
8. I like that dress very ___________.

Choose whether to use HOW MUCH or HOW MANY in the following questions?
1. ___________ do you weigh?
2. ___________ does it cost to fly to America?
3. ___________ brothers and sisters do you have?
4. ___________ people did he invite to his birthday party ?
5. ___________ was your computer?
6. ___________ mistakes did you make on the test?
7. ___________ books did you borrow from the library ?
8. ___________ water did they bring with them in the desert?
9. ___________ photos did you take when you went to London?
10. ___________ times a day do you brush your teeth?

Select much, many or a lot of.

1. Weve got much / a lot of rice.

2. There isnt much / a lot of rice.

3. My sister eats a lot of / many sweets.
4. There arent much / many vegetarians in my school.
5. There arent a lot of / much vegetables.
6. I dont drink much / many juice.
7. There was many / a lot of traffic.
8. In Antarctica there isnt any / much traffic.
9. There is many / much rain in August.
10. Does the teacher give many / much homework?
11. Theres many / a lot of fruit in the bowl.
12. A lot of / a people like hamburgers.
13. We went to America many / much years ago.

Complete the sentences. Use a lot of/ much/ many.

Jane has a problem. She wants to get married, but doesnt know which man to choose:
Johns got 1___________ cars but he hasnt got 2 __________ patience.
Davids got 3 ___________ money, but he hasnt got 4 ___________friends.
Michel hasnt got 5 ______money, but he has got 6 __________charm.
Arthur has got 7 __________ fun, but he hasnt got 8 ___________sense of humour.
Bill hasnt got 9 ___________clothes, but hes got 10 ___________fun.
Sids got 11 ____________style, but he has not got 12 ___________humour.
Fred has not got 13_________ style, but hes got 14___________ luck.
Which man do you think would be the best for her?

Complete the sentences with little, few, a little or a few.

1. Well, Ive got _____________ time to spare. Shall we go out and grab a coffee?
2. There were _____________ people at the party, so it was rather boring. We left early.
3. Would you mind if I asked you ___________ questions?
4. Jon seems to have very ___________ luck. Nothing ever goes right for him.
5. As there were only ____________ items on the agenda, we finished the meeting early.
6. Come on, hurry up. Ive got ______________ time to spare.
7. Frankly, there were only _____________ places left, so we would never have got in even if wed
called earlier.
8. Weve been back to Turkey _____________ times now, and we always enjoy it.

Now complete the rules. Use little, few, a little or a few.

a. We use _________ and ____________before uncountable nouns.
b. We use _________ and ____________ before plural countable nouns.
c. ___________ and ____________ express a positive idea, whereas __________ and ____________ express a
negative idea.
d. We say very _________ and very _________, but only ___________ and only __________.

Basic uses of little/a little and few/a few

We use few and a few with plural countable nouns: a few friends, few friends.
We use little and a little with uncountable nouns: a little time, little time.
1. A little means some but not much, a small quantity: He knows a little French.
2. A few a small number: We are going away for a few days.
Compare: Ive got a little money (=mt cht, )
Ive got little money (= mt to, khng )
Ive got a few friends (= mt vi, )
Ive got few friends (= qu t, khng )
We sometimes use only with a few and a little: Ive got only a little time.

Exercise: Few/Little
1) There is very __________ time left to shop.

2) Ben is new in Calgary. He has ___________ friends.

3) ___________ people came to the party.
4) Theres ___________ oil in the bottle.
5) This recipe requires ___________ eggs.
6) There is usually ___________ snow in April.
7) The lake has dried up. There is ____________ water in it.
8) _______ students came to school today because of the bad weather.
9) My son feels better. He needs ________ medicine now.
10) I have _________ relatives living in Canada.

Exercise: A Few/A Little

1) There are _____________ students absent today.
2) There is ______________ orange juice in the glass.
3) She has _____________ cousins in Calgary.
4) There are _____________ books on my desk.
5) Peter has _____________ pictures to frame.
6) There is _______________ shampoo in the bottle.
7) We learnt ______________ French today.
8) My parents have ______________ children.
9) There is ____________ sand in my shoes.
10) There is ____________ flour in the cupboard.

For questions 1-6, read the text below and decide which answer A, B, C or D best fits each space. There is
an example at the beginning (0).
Example: 0. A number B few C quantity D several
The meeting
We were surprised that quite a (0) ___________ people turned up at the meeting. We knew that there were
a (1) ___________ people opposed to foxhunting in the village, but we didnt think that (2) ___________
would be prepared to come out on a cold, wet Wednesday evening. Walter spoke for a (3) ___________
moments about what the committee had been doing during the past month, then we asked whether there
were (4) ___________ questions from the audience. A young man, who was sitting (5) ____________ seats
back from the front, pushed his chair back, stood up, and said that there was very (6) ___________ point in
having meetings if (7) __________ was prepared to take (8) __________ sort of action.
1 A lot of

B many

C few

D little

2 A much

B lot

C many

D lot of

3 A little

B several

C few

D some

4 Aa

B any

C much

D a lot of

5 A a number B a little

C a number

D a few

6 A few

C little

D minor

7 A someone B everyone

C anyone

D no-one

8 A any

C a lot of

D several

B small

B many

Choose the correct answer.

1. I eat___C___ meat. I prefer fish.
. very few

B. a few

C. very little

2. Has he got many interesting books in his library?

. a little

B. much

C. a lot

3. She doesnt eat ______ chocolate because she doesnt like it.
. much

B. a lot of

C. little

4. There are ________apples on the plate. Take one.

A. a few

B. a lot

C. a little

5. You havent got _______ mistakes in your test.

A. a few

B. a lot

C. many

6. There is ______ milk in the fridge. Can you buy some?

A. a few

B. a little

C. little

7. Put _______sugar into your tea.

A. a few

B. a little

C. little

8. Very _______ pupils in our class can do such difficult calculations.

A. a few

B. few

C. little

9. Ther are ________ of shops and restaurants in our district.

A. a few

B. a lot

C. many

10. Ther are _________ of mushrooms in the forest this year.

A. a few

B. a lot

C. a little

11. I can speak English _________, but not very much.

A. a few

B. a lot

C. a little

12. There is _______ furniture in the house; its almost empty.

A. little

B. a little

C. few

Correct the mistakes.

1. How many free time do you have? Much
2. There isnt a lot of snow in the streets.
3. The doctor gave me any medicine for my cough.
4. There are a little students in the class.
5. I wanted to buy any fresh eggs, but there weren't some in the store.
money.
7. There is many juice in the glass.
8. Please give me any more coffee.
9. He never makes much mistakes in spelling.

6. He never gives his kids few

10. There aren't some good seats left for the play tonight.

Read the letter and choose the correct variant.

Dear Helen ,
Thanks a lot/much for your letter. Im glad you had a good time in summer. I enjoyed myself in summer too. I
spent it with my parents in Italy. In August my family moved to a new flat so I have a little/a few things to tell
you about my new school.
It is a very big school. There are a lot of/a little students in my class and I have very little/ a lot of friends. This
year we study some/few new subjects. They are interesting, though quite difficult. I havent got very
much/little free time because I have a lot of/ few hobbies.
Please write to me soon and tell me a little/little about your school.
Best wishes,
Ann.