At vælge den rigtige kvantor
For at besvare spørgsmålene How much? og How many? bruges visse kvantorer med tællelige navneord (friends, cups, people), andre med utællelige navneord (sugar, tea, money), mens andre igen bruges med alle navneord.
| Kun med utællelige navneord | Med alle navneord | Kun med tællelige navneord |
|---|---|---|
| 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.
Brugen af "Much" og"Many"
Much og many bruges primært i spørgende og negative sætninger. De bruges også i bekræftende og nægtende sætninger sammen med too og so. Bemærk: ordet many kan bruges selvstændigt i bekræftende sætninger, mens much ikke kan. I bekræftende sætninger erstattes much med a lot of eller lots of (disse udtryk kan også erstatte many).
| Utællelige navneord | Tællelige navneord |
|---|---|
| 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. |