Scelta del quantificatore giusto
Per rispondere alle domande How much? e How many? alcuni quantificatori possono essere usati solo con i sostantivi numerabili (friends, cups, people), altri solo con i sostantivi non numerabili (sugar, tea, money) e altri ancora con qualsiasi tipo di sostantivo.
| Solo con i sostantivi non numerabili | Con tutti i sostantivi | Solo con i sostantivi numerabili |
|---|---|---|
| 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 |
Esempi
- 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.
Uso di "much" e "many"
Much e many sono spesso usati nelle forme interrogative e negative. Sono anche usati con too e so nelle frasi affermative e negative. Attenzione: mentre many può essere utilizzato da solo in un'affermazione, lo stesso non vale per much. Much viene sostituito con le espressioni a lot of o lots of nelle affermazioni (queste espressioni possono sostituire anche many)
| Sostantivo non numerabile | Sostantivo numerabile |
|---|---|
| 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. |