Quantifiers

Quantifiers are types of English determiners that tell us the number of nouns.

Quantifiers "quantify" the noun. They tell us how much or how many.

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A quantifier always comes before a noun and modifies the noun.

To understand the rules for using quantifiers, you must first understand countable and uncountable nouns.

Countable nouns are things that can actually be counted.

• 1 foot
• thirteen apples
• 2 dogs
• twenty-five children

Uncountable nouns are things that cannot be counted or made plural. They are usually substances, emotions, and ideas.

• water
• sugar
• sadness
• grammar
  

Using Quantifiers

Some quantifiers can only be used with singular or plural countable nouns.

Some quantifiers can only be used with uncountable nouns.

Some quantifiers can be used with countable and uncountable nouns.

Here is a chart showing some common quantifiers and their uses.

Quantifier	Used with singular countable nouns?	Example	Used with plural countable nouns?	Example	Used with uncountable nouns?	Example
a lot of lots of	No		Yes	a lot of dogs	Yes	a lot of sugar
all	No		Yes	all dogs	Yes	all the sugar
any	Yes	any dog	Yes	any dogs	Yes	any sugar
both	No		Yes	both dogs	No
enough	No		Yes	enough dogs	Yes	enough sugar
every	Yes	every dog	No		No
few/a few/fewer	No		Yes	few dogs	No
less	No		Yes	less dogs	Yes	less sugar
little/a little	No		No		Yes	a little sugar
many	No		Yes	many dogs	No
most	No		Yes	most dogs	Yes	most sugar
much	No		No		Yes	much sugar
no	Yes	no dog	yes	no dogs	Yes	no sugar
none of	No		Yes	none of the dogs	Yes	none of the sugar
several	No		Yes	several dogs	No
some	No		Yes	some dogs	Yes	some sugar

A) Quantifiers can be placed right before a noun

B) Quantifiers can be placed in a noun phrase before adjectives and the noun

D) We sometimes use two quantifiers together

• Do you have a few more eggs for my recipe?
  
  
• The baby wakes up every few hours at night.
  
  
• Please read that part with a little more expression.
  
  
• Put a little less sugar in my cup of tea.
  

E) Sometimes quantifiers are used as pronouns

A pronoun is a word that is used in place of a noun.

We may use quantifiers in place of nouns when the noun has already been identified.

(The bold sentences use quantifiers as pronouns.)




These were the rules and uses of Quantifiers. Now that you know them, it is time to practice! Get our ESL Books.

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