You are on page 1of 5

03/08/2020

 Countable nouns are things we can count. For example:


“book". We can count books. We can have one, two, three
or more books.

 Uncountable nouns are substances, concepts, etc that we


cannot divide into separate elements. We cannot "count"
them.

1
03/08/2020

 Some words like means, series and species look like plural nouns
but they are usually countable and singular.
 News is an uncountable noun which is followed by a singular verb.
 People is countable. 1 person, 2 people, 3 people and so on.
 Team is usually singular when it refers to ‘organization’ or ‘club’,
but it is plural when it refers to a number of players.
 Family is usually followed by a singular verb. In British English,
you can also use a plural verb.
 Police is a plural noun and is followed by a plural verb.

My teacher gave me some good advice about exams.


Can you give me some information, please?
We’ll have to buy some furniture for the flat.
Sue’s gone to get some money from the bank.

2
03/08/2020

ALGUNOS/AS (COUNTABLE)
UN /A (COUNTABLE) UN POCO DE(UNCOUTABLE)
Positive sentences
There’s an apple in the
basket. There are some cars in the garage.
There isn’t a red apple in I’ve got some problems in my life.
the basket.
There’s some whisky left.
Is there a new computer
in your room?

*Some is used with requests or questions when we expect a positive answer.

NEGATIVE (COUNTABLE / UNCOUNTABLE NOUNS)


Nada-Ninguno/a (s) Algunos/as (Questions)
Ningunos/as (Negative)
EXAMPLES OF NEGATION:
I’ve got no experience. I haven’t got any experience.

None of my friends phones me anymore. There aren’t any students here.

EXAMPLES OF QUESTIONS
(ANY means ALGUNOS/AS or “Un poco de” for uncountable)
Is there any water left? No, there isn’t.
Have they got any problem? Yes, they have got some problems.
*Be careful! Double negation is not permitted: My sister hasn’t got no bank account. (ungrammatical)
CORRECT: My sister hasn’t got any bank account or My sister has got no bank account.

3
03/08/2020

APENAS, CASI NADA (COUNTABLE / UNCOUNTABLE NOUNS)


There’s hardly any milk.

POCOS /AS (COUNTABLE)


She’s got few friends here.
POCO (UNCOUNTABLE)
There are few people there
We had a bit of trouble
with the engine.
There’s little money left.

MUCHO (UNCOUNTABLE) MUCHOS /AS (COUNTABLE)


Amy hasn’t got much water. My teacher’s got many students.
There isn’t much money in There aren’t many English books in
this bag. the library.
How much? (¿Cuánto?) How many? (¿Cuántos/as?)

How much (money) is that? How many days are there in a


How much wine is there?
week?
*Much is used in negative sentences and questions.
But “There was too much work for one person.”

4
03/08/2020

UN MONTÓN DE (COUNTABLE / UNCOUNTABLE)


EXAMPLES:
There’s a lot of work to do.
There are lots of paintings in this place.
My girlfriend has got plenty of biscuits in her room.
The young boy struggled to carry his load of bananas up the hill.

Quantifiers Countable Uncountable Questions Negative Sentences Affirmative Sentences Other features

Any Any cookies Any milk Is there any milk? There aren´t any X
cookies
I have lots of *Not usual
A lot of/ lots of Lots of A lot of sugar *Have you eaten lots of *I don’t have a lot of buiscuits.
(informal) bananas chocolate? time.
Much X Much water How much bread do I don´t have X
we need? much cheese
Many Many apples X How many oranges do I don’t have I have many (Formal in
you have? many tomatoes tangerines. affirmative
sentneces)
Plenty of There are Plenty of soda Didn't you have I don’t have plenty I have plenty of
plenty of plenty of sandwiches of orange juice. chocolate.
cherries to for the picnic?
eat,
Few apples X Are there a few X I have a few sweets to A few = satisfied
A few / few (positive
lemons in the share,
meaning) Few =
refrigerator?
unsatisfied
(negative
meaning)
A little / little X Little food Is there a little salt on X I`ll have a little soup. A little= satisfied
the table? Little = unsatisfied
Some Some Some ice cream Would you like to X I have some ham in the Requests, offers
strawberries eat some pizza? fridge.
No No bananas No butter X X I have no food at home. No = forma
afirmativa de
negar.

MORE INFORMATION AND EXAMPLES: https://dictionary.cambridge.org/es/gramatica/gramatica-britanica/quantifiers

You might also like