TOPIC 13: Expression of Quantity (14 pages)

Introduction
Linguistically, quantity has a direct relation with the grammatical category of number.
The English number system constitutes a two-term contrast SINGULAR, which denotes "one"
and PLURAL, which denotes ‘more than one’. A noun phrase is either singular or plural, and its
number is determined in general by its head, which is typically a noun. With nouns, number is
primarily an inflectional category: For example boy and boys are the singular and plural forms
of the lexeme ‘boy’; however, with a minority of nouns, there is no inflectional contrast. In
addition to singular and plural number we may distinguish dual number in the case of both,
either, and neither.

1. Countability

In English, when we use a noun phrase it is necessary to make clear whether the referent
noun is perceived as a discrete divisible countable entity or as an indivisible uncountable mass
entity.

By definition, the semantic notion of countability correlates with the grammatical

category of number. Count nouns refer to things perceived as either one or more than one
separable entities and are represented linguistically by the formal singular/plural contrast.

However, the perception of a “thing” as “mass” does not involve the “one/more than
one’ contrast, so that semantically, mass nouns do not correlate with the singular/plural
opposition in grammar, i.e. they lack number contrast., we should not, strictly speaking, say
that they are represented by the “singular form of the noun”, but only by the base form, which
is not marked for number, therefore they are invariable.

Nevertheless, in a grammatical description of the language, all noun phrases must be

described morphologically as singular or plural. We are therefore bound to say that the word
‘music’ has a singular form even though it does not contrast with a plural form "musics" and
that ‘mathematics’ has plural form even though it does not contrast with a singular form “a
mathematic”. Syntactically both are singular since both take singular verbs and are referred to
by the singular pronoun ‘it’.

The language makes it possible to look upon some objects from the point of view of both
count and mass as in the case of cake, cheese:

I Would like two/several cakes I’d like some/another piece of cake

There are some nouns with dual class membership such as experience(s), paper(s),
iron(s), lamb(s, etc. Often they have considerable difference in meaning in the two classes. For
example:
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She was a beauty (a beautiful woman). Beauty is to be admired.

Nouns may be shifted from one class to another by means of two devices:

a. Conversion. An uncountable noun like cheese can be reclassified as a countable noun

denoting quality partition, with the meaning ‘kind/type/form/brand of:

What cheeses do you prefer? What kinds of cheese...?

Similarly, an uncountable noun like coffee can be reclassified to mean ‘a unit of:

Two coffees, please Two cups of coffee

b. The use of general partitive nouns, in particular piece, bit or item followed by an of-
phrase: two pieces of cake, some bits of chalk, several items of news

2. THE CATEGORY OF NUMBER

The English number system has two terms: SINGULAR, which denotes ‘one’, and
PLURAL, which denotes ‘more than one’. There is number concord between subjects and finite
verbs, i.e. a singular subject requires a singular verb and a plural subject requires a plural verb:
the bird is flying/the birds are flying. Randolph Quirk distinguishes three main number classes
of nouns: variable nouns, singular invariable nouns (The Thames, Thomas), and plural
invariable nouns. Variable nouns occur with either singular or plural number; besides
Invariable nouns occur only in the singular (gold) or in the plural (cattle).

As we have already mentioned variable nouns have singular and plural. The singular is
the unmarked form. The vast majority of nouns are variable and normally the plural is fully
predictable both in spelling and pronunciation according to several rules. If the plural cannot
be predicted from the singular, it is an irregular plural.

The regular way of forming the plural is by adding the “-s” suffix with its threefold
pronunciation.

a. After nouns ending in sibilants [s] [z] [ʃ] [tʃ] [dʒ] [ʒ]  / the suffix is spelled "-es". If
the noun ending is a mute ‘-e’, it drops and takes the ‘-es’ which is pronounced -/ ɪz /: /s/ -
horse - horses; / ɪz/ size - sizes; / ɪz / -dish - dishes; / ɪz / -church - churches; / ɪz
/ mirage - mirages; / / - language - languages.
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b. After nouns ending in vowels and voiced non-sibilants consonants the suffix is
spelled “-s” and pronunced -/z/: bee - bees, bed – beds.

c. After nouns ending in voiceless non-sibilants consonants the suffix is spelled “-s”
and pronounced /s/: cap – caps, hat – hats, cliff – cliffs.

● Nouns ending in ‘-y’ have two spellings:

When preceded by a consonant, they change ‘-y’ to "-i " and add "-es"
sky - skies, spy - spies, fly - flies.

They keep "-y" and add only "-s":

• after vowels: days (but nouns in "-quy" have "-qui": soliloquy - soliloquies)
• in proper nouns: the Kennedys, the two Germanys.

● Nouns ending in "-o" have plurals in "-os" or "-oes":

-OS: Nouns ending in "-o" generally have plural in “-os” , both when preceded by vowel
or consonant: radios, folios, studios, kangaroos, solos, pianos, etc.
-OES: A mute e is inserted between o and s in all familiar words when there is a consonant
before o: domino (plural: dominoes); also: echo, embargo, tomato, potato, hero, torpedo, etc.
-OS or -OES: In some cases they may take both plurals in "-os" and "-oes": archipelago
(plural: archipelagos /archipelagoes); also: banjo, buffalo, cargo, tornado, volcano.

● The apostrophe + "s" is used with some nouns of unusual form though the
variant without the apostrophe is increasing nowadays: letters: I can’t distinguish between
your e‘s and your a’s; numerals: In the 60’s (also: 60s) abbreviations: Two PhD’s (also: PhDs)

Irregular plurals are by definition unpredictable. Therefore, the particular plurals of many
nouns have to be learned as individual lexical units.

a. Voicing + ‘-s’ plural

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Some nouns which in the singular end in the final voiceless fricatives /θ/, / f/, and
/s/ have voicing to /ð/ /vI and /z/ , respectively:

Pronouns, like nouns, may function as the head of a noun phrase. Personal,
reflexive, and possessive pronouns have singular and plural forms which are
morphologically unrelated, i.e. in pronouns number is not an inflectional category.
Therefore, every pronoun can be said to be forms of different lexemes.

PERSONAL PRONOUNS REFLEXIVE POSSESSIVE PRONOUNS

Subjective Objective case PRONOUNS Determinative Independent
case function function
1ST PERSON
Singular I me myself my mine
Plural we us ourselves our ours
2ND PERSON
Singular you you yourself your yours
Plural you you yourselves your yours
3RD PERSON
Sing. Mascul. he him himself his his
Sing. Feminine she her herself her hers
Singular it it itself its its
Neuter
Plural they them themselves their theirs

3. QUANTIFIERS

Quantifiers are, determiners and pronouns denoting quantity or amount. We

may distinguish three groups of quantifiers:

1. Determiners (as in some friends)

2. Pronouns which may be followed by an of-construction (as in some of the men.
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3. Other pronouns (as in Somebody is knocking)

Of the quantifiers which are determiners, some (like all) function as

predeterminers in the noun phrase, others (like some) function as central determiners
and yet others (like many) as postdeterminers.

PREDETERMINERS CENTRAL DETERMINERS POSTDETERMINERS

a) all, both, half Articles a) Cardinal numbers: one, two,
etc.
b) double, twice, etc. Demonstratives b) Ordinal numerals: first,
second, etc
c) one third, etc Possessives c) General Ordinals: next, last,
other, etc.
d) what, such d) Quantifiers: some any, no, d) Quantifiers: many, most,
every, each, either, neither, few, little, several, more, less
enough, much. and phrases denoting
quantity: a lot of, etc.

3.1 Predeterminers. As the name implies, predeterminers when combined

with central determiners, occur before them. There are three classes of predeterminers
related to quantity.

1. All, Both, Half. The may be used as predeterminers or as pronouns

All goes with plural count nouns or mass nouns: Are you going to buy all these
cans/all this rice? All the... occasionally occurs with a singular count noun, or all of the.
.. All (of ) the town is preferable, but in this last case all functions as a pronoun.

Both goes with plural count nouns only: Both (the) books were out of the library.

Half goes with singular or plural count nouns or mass nouns: I want half a pint/half
the plums/half the butter.

In addition to this predeterminer function all, both and half as pronouns may take
an of-construction, which is optional with nouns and obligatory with personal pronouns:
both of (the) students → both of them.
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CONCLUSION AND TEACHING INFERENCE

Even when the teacher is using a published textbook, he has to consider whether it
should be adapted or complemented, so that it will be more suited to his learners'
needs. In addition, every teacher has to decide what language, topics or situations he
should include in the additional practice activities that he devises.
There is a crucial distinction between classes that are driven by a language training
agenda and those that are informed by cultural learning objectives. There is still a need,
of course, for classes where the primary focus is language learning, but here, too it is
important that cultural learning is seen as an integral part of language education and
not restricted to the 'cultural studies lesson'. One lesson on writing can be an example
of this kind of integration. The teacher's primary aim should be to raise students'
awareness of the conventions and structural norms of writing postcards and informal
letters in English, but this could be done by getting the learners to carry out a detailed
contrastive analysis of a range of authentic texts (it may be those received by the
teacher) in English and in Spanish.
Another possibility with more advanced learners is to organize units around the 'notions'
that learners should be able to express. In discussing syllabuses, the term 'notion' usually
refers to general concepts such as 'quantity', 'cause' or 'time'. Thus, units could be based
on, say, different ways of expressing causal relationships or quantity.
The job for the teacher becomes one of developing in the students a conception of how
the native speaker of English conceives of and expresses quantity. If we accept this
notion that learning the meaning of the expressions of quantity in English is a problem
of concept formation rather than vocabulary development, then it becomes apparent
that our techniques for teaching such expressions must be different than for vocabulary
items.
It is the task of the teacher to create for the students understandable situations that will
help develop in them the intuitive use of the expressions of quantity that every native
speaker of English possesses. This involves presenting the student with large numbers
of contrasting situations designed to develop in him/her an understanding of the native
speaker's presuppositions about quantity.
By providing students with contextualized examples, rather than telling the student
explicitly when to use one expression of quantity instead of another, the teacher is
leading the student to make his/her own conclusions about the use of these expressions.
As soon as the students thoroughly understand when the context calls for one
expression of quantity and when it calls for the other, the teacher can give the students
communicative situations for them to supply an appropriate response—a form of
pattern drill.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
 TOPIC 13: Expression of Quantity (14 pages)

Quirk, R.; Greenbaum, S.; Leech, G. & Svartvik, J. A Grammar of Contemporary

English, Longman. London, 1972
Leech, G. & Svartvik J, A Communicative Grammar of English. Longman. London,
1975
Onions, CT. Modern English Syntax. Rouledge and Kegan Paul. London, 1974
Palmer, F. R. Grammar. Penguin. Harmondsworth, 1971
Swam, M. Practical English Usage. New Edition. Oxford University Press. Oxford,
1997.