Pleasure of English: [31] Quantifiers

[artykuł przeniesiony z poprzedniego adresu]

Dzisiaj przyszedł czas na zaimki nieokreślone, czyli Quantifiers. Dodajemy je z reguły przed rzeczownikiem i odpowiadają na pytania „ile?”, „jak wiele?”.

Sprawa jest o tyle utrudniona, że niektóre występują przed rzeczownikami policzalnymi (countable nouns) inne przed niepoliczalnymi (uncountable nouns) [e.g money, salt, rice, advice]. Trzeba być uważnym również w przypadku liczby mnogiej i pojedynczej, bo tutaj także obowiązuje pewne rozróżnienie.

Określniki ilości występujące wyłącznie z rzeczownikami policzalnymi (countable nouns)	Określniki ilości występujące z rzeczownikami niepoliczalnymi (uncountable nouns)
many, several, a couple of, none of, few, a few, each, every, whole, the whole, a majority of, a great (large) number of	much, a little, little, a bit of, a good/great deal of, no (e.g. information), a large amount of, a large quantity of

Określniki ilości występujące zarówno z rzeczownikami policzalnymi, jak i niepoliczalnymi

all of, some (any), most of, enough, a lot of, lots of, plenty of, a lack of

Artykuł podzieliłam ze względu na ilości:

LARGE QUANTITIES

a lot of, lots of, many, much (dużo, wiele)

We use a lot of or lots of in positive sentences and much or many in negative sentences and questions.

Examples:

They have a lot of money.

He has lots of friends.

There aren’t many cinemas near here.

Do you watch much TV?

Important:

much + uncountable nouns

(e.g.much time, much luck)

many + countable nouns

(e.g.many friends)

a lot

We use a lot when there is no noun.

Example: I like him a lot.

plenty of

We use plenty of in positive sentences and it means ‘as much as we need or more’.

Example: You don’t have to run. We have plenty of time.

Another quantifiers related to large quantities:

whole (cały, wszystko)

Example: Can I stay whole day at aunties?

the whole (cały, wszystko)

Example: Did you eat the whole pizza already?!

a good deal of, a great deal of (dużo)

Example: Unfortunately, a great deal of important information was lost.

all (wszyscy, cały)

Example: All that noise makes me dizzy.

all of (wszyscy, cały)

Examples: All of them are guilty!
Did you drink all of the juice?

SMALL QUANTITIES

We use little + uncountable nouns and few + plural countable nouns. Both of them mean ‘some, but not a lot’.

Examples:

- Do you want some ice cream?

- Just a little.

The town has only a few restaurants.

Very little and very few mean ‘not much / many’.

Examples:

Get up! You have very little time!

People usually have very few close friends.

A few vs few, a little vs little:

· There is a difference between few and a few and little and a little.

These expressions show the speaker’s attitude (stosunek) towards (wobec) the quantity he/she is referring to.

A few (for countable nouns) and a little (for uncountablenouns) describe the quantity in a positive way:

“I’ve got a few friends” (= maybe not many, but enough)
“I’ve got a little money” (= I’ve got enough to get by)

Few and little describe the quantity in a negative way:

Few people visited him in hospital (= he had almost no visitors)
He had little money (= almost no money)

Generally:

Few, little

‘not enough’

a few, a little

‘not a lot, but enough’

Examples of two situations:

"She has a few books". (Ma kilka książek, nie za dużo, ale może wystarczy do jakichś potrzeb.)	"She has few books". (Ma mało książek, nie za wiele, zbyt mało, nie wystarczą jej).
"I have a little experience in teaching grammar". (Zdanie to oznacza, że mam trochę doświadczenia i to może wystarczyć.)	"I have little expierence in teaching grammar" . (Mam mało doświadczenia i to na pewno nie wystarczy.)

Another quantifiers related to small quantities:

Several, a couple of (kilka)

Example: I saw several black cats yesterday.
Can we have a couple of cookies?

a bit of (trochę)

Example: I'll have a bit of salad.

ZERO QUANTITY

any, no (żaden, w ogóle)

We use any with a negative verb and no with a positive verb.

Examples:

There isn’t any books on the shelf.

There’s no bottle in the kitchen.

none of (żadnych)

Example: None of the thieves was caught.

None is also used without a noun in short answers.

Example: - How much money doyou have? – None.

What about expressing more or less than you need or want...

We use: too + adjective

too much+ uncountable noun

too many+ plural countable nouns.

We use enough before a noun but after an adjective.

Examples:

More than you need or want	Less than you need or want
I don’t like your room. It’s too big. There’s too much traffic in Warsaw. There are too many homeless cats.	There aren’t enough car parks. The buses aren’t frequent (częste) enough.

Graded Quantifiers

INCREASE (0-100%)	DECREASE (100-0%) [spadek]
many more most (countable nouns) much more most (uncountable nouns)	few fewer fewest (plural countable nouns) little less least (uncountable nouns)