Å velge riktig kvantor
For å besvare spørsmålene How much? og How many? må visse kvantorer brukes med tellbare substantiv (friends, cups, people), andre type kvantorer med utellbare substantiv (sugar, tea, money), og andre med alle typer substantiv.
| Kun med utellbare substantiv | Med alle typer substantiv | Kun med tellbare substantiv |
|---|---|---|
| a little | no, none, not any | a few |
| a bit of | some | a number of |
| any | several | |
| a great deal of | a lot of, lots of | a great number of |
| a large amount of | plenty of | a large number of |
Eksempler
- Would you like some tea and a few cookies?
- I always put a little milk and some carrots in my soup.
- He has several apples. I don't have any fruit at all.
- She has plenty of clothes for the winter.
- I recieved a large amount of feedback from my survey.
Å bruke "Much" og "Many"
Much og many brukes vanligvis i spørrende og negative setninger. De brukes også i både bekreftende og benektende setninger i kombinasjon med too og so. Legg merke til at ordet many kan brukes for seg selv i bekreftende setninger, mens ordet much kan ikke. Much erstattes i bekreftende setninger med a lot of eller lots of (disse uttrykkene kan også erstatte many).
| Utellbare substantiv | Tellbare substantiv |
|---|---|
| How much sugar do you have? | How many people came to the concert? |
| There's not much sugar at the store. | Not many people came to the concert. |
| I have too much sugar at home. | There were too many people at the concert. |
| I don't know what to do with so much sugar. | It's a problem when there are so many people. |
| I wish there was not so much sugar here. | There were not so many people last year. |
| There is a lot of sugar in candy. | There are many people who want to come. = There are a lot of people who want to come. |