WEEK 2

QUANTIFIERS

COUNTABLE NOUN UNCOUNTABLE NOUN

Some, any, plenty of, a lot of, lots of, loads of
Many Much
Few, a few Little, a little
A (adj) number of An amount of
A wide range of A deal of
A multitude of A wealth of
A majority of
Several
Every, each
Either , neither

THE USES OF SOME AND ANY

1. Uses of some and compounds.

Some is a determiner and a pronoun; someone and something are pronouns. We use
some words in:
a. Positive statements:
- We have some new ideas we want to try out. (determiner + plural countable noun]
- Losing some money is an inevitable part of investing. (determiner+ uncountable
noun]
- These are just some of the areas where we could cut costs. (pronoun)
- There's someone waiting for you in your office. (pronoun]

b. Polite offers in the question form:

- Do you have some other questions? (inviting questions)
- Would you like some more coffee?
Both some and any are correct, but some is felt to be more polite.

2. Uses of any and compounds.

The uses of any + compounds are parallel to the uses of some + compounds above. We
use any words in:
a. Negative statements:
They did not receive any documents concerning their transactions.(determiner+ plural
countable noun]
b. Direct questions:
Does anyone have any comments? (pronoun; determiner + plural countable noun)
c. Yes/no indirect question:
I wonder if anyone can answer that question.
d. Conditional clauses
If anyone would like more information, please visit our website.
e. Comparisons after -er, more, less
The stockmarket has done better than anyone could have hoped.
It's too late to do anything today, but we'll look at it first thing tomorrow.

Exercise 1
The following sentences all contain one mistake. Correct them.
1. I haven't seen some examples yet.
2. There were any questions so the meeting ended.
3. We don't need no help with this.
4. I didn't have problems coming to see you.
5. The meeting was longer than someone would have wanted.

Exercise 2
Choose the sentence with the closest meaning (a, b or c} to the one given.
1. Some companies raise money by issuing shares.
a. A number of companies raise money by issuing shares.
b. Companies raise money by issuing shares.
c. All companies raise money by issuing shares.
2. I spoke to someone yesterday about investing in shares.
a. I spoke to some people yesterday about investing in shares.
b. I spoke to a person yesterday about investing in shares.
c. I spoke to some person yesterday about investing in shares.
3. I don't think just anyone can answer this question.
a. I don't need anyone special to answer this question.
b. I need some special people to answer this question.
c. I need someone special to answer this question.
 I need someone who is special to answer….
4. Any of the goods in this section are available within two weeks.
a. Some of the goods in this section are available within two weeks.
b. All of the goods in this section are available within two weeks.
c. Most of the goods in this section are available within two weeks.

Exercise 3
The following is an extract from a telephone conversation between a computer user and the
Customer Service Centre of a major software manufacturer. Fill in the spaces with a suitable
word from the box.

Someone any some anyone anything some something

Customer: I'd like (1) ______________ information about upgrading software please. I
understand that last month you were offering Grapho 5.1 free of charge to users who had
bought 5.0 in January or February. I bought mine in January but I haven't received

(2)___________ information and now the free offer is closed.

CSC: Yes, I'm sorry, that's correct (3) _______________ who was a registered user should
have received news of the offer.

Customer: I didn't receive (4) __________

CSC: I'm sorry about that. Have you been receiving our regular newsletter since you bought
your Grapho software? There's always (5) ______________ in there about offers.
Customer: No, I haven't.

CSC: Hold on please, there's (6) ________ here I can ask about this.

3. Much, many, a lot of and lots of when used in positive statements:

- Many of the skills that companies are looking for are available overseas.
- A lot of the skills that companies are looking for are available overseas.
- How much and how many are the question words to ask about quantity:
- How much does it cost to rent? (how much =money]

- How many shares do you want to sell?

4. A few and few versus a little and little:

- We have a few reliable suppliers. (not many but enough]
- We have few reliable suppliers. (not many and not enough!
- We have little time before the end of the meeting. (not much and not enough]
Note: We often use a few and a little with only:
- There are only a few organisations operating in our market niche.(not: only few
organisations]
- There are few organisations operating in our market niche. (similar meaning to only
a few]

5. We often use very with few, little and many:

- The plant was not visited by very many people.
- We had very little money and very few supplies.
SO/AS/TOO/VERY
Note: We do not use the before most:
- Most (of the) data will be collected from within the organization. (not: the most]

Exercise 4
Place the following in order from 1 {maximum} to 7 {minimum}.
a. Several of our products are made from recycled plastic.
b. None of our products are made from recycled plastic.
c. Few of our products are made from recycled plastic.
d. Many of our products are made from recycled plastic.
e. Most of our products are made from recycled plastic.
f. A few of our products are made from recycled plastic.
g. All of our products are made from recycled plastic.

Exercise 5
Replace the underlined words with a word orphrase from the box.
a few much all no few most
1. Not many but some of our clients responded to the survey.
2. The majority of them had some positive comments to make.
3. Not one of our customers thought our products were unreliable.
4. A lot of constructive criticism centred on product distribution and delivery.
5. Not many and not enough customers wanted regular news on our new products and
services.
6. Every one of the respondents said our packaging was good.
Exercise 6
Underline the quantifiers in the text below and then rewrite the sentences with different
quantifiers but without changing the meaning.
The majority of our competitors have managed to reduce their costs over the last year. Each
of them has tried to introduce cost-cutting measures.Of cciurse, not one of these measures has
been an absolute success; and a number of them have been a total failure. For example, when
Planton tried to save a small amount of money by merging two departments, the results were
catastrophic. Not enough people in the new department were happy to work together as a
newly-formed team. Finally, Planton had to invest a large sum of money on team-building
activities just to solve the new problems which had been created.