Topic 13 – Expression of quantity

11-14 minutos

In my first section I am going to include a definition of the notion of

quantity, and will establish a difference between countable and
uncountable nouns, and between singular and plural. In my second
section I will deal with the expression of quantity through numerals.
Then I will move on to deal with indefinite pronouns. My fourth
section will be devoted to look at quantifying pronouns. I will also
deal with some determiners expressing quantity. Finally, in my fifth
section I will have a look at some partitive constructions.

I would like to start this topic by including a simple definition of the

notion of quantity. The notion of quantity refers to the number or the
amount of items we are dealing with, and it is the answer to
questions such as How much…? or How many…?. Obviously, they
both ask for a similar information, except for a specific difference
about “the exact amount of”, which can be definite (one, two…) or
indefinite (some, any…). Answers are drawn directly from different
sources, such as nouns (one book), pronouns (everybody),
determiners (the, my, some, each), partitive constructions (a glass of
milk), etc.

In order to express quantity it is important to have a clear idea of the

notions of countable and uncountable nouns and of the notions of
singular and plural. Although several different interpretations have
been made about countable and uncountable nouns, I am going to
opt for the one which is most widely accepted. Countable nouns are
the names of objects, people, ideas… that can be counted.
Therefore they have a plural form and we can use numbers and the
article a/an with them. On the contrary, uncountable or mass nouns
are the names of materials, liquids, abstract qualities, collections
and other things which can be seen as masses without clear
boundaries, and not as separate objects. We cannot use numbers
with uncountable nouns and most are singular with no plural. We do
not usually use a/an with uncountable nouns, though there are some
exceptions. Some determiners can only be used with countable
nouns and others can only be used with uncountable nouns.
However, some nouns have countable and uncountable uses, often
with a difference of meaning.
After seeing the difference between countable and uncountable
nouns, let’s see the difference between singular and plural, which
can be considered as a way in itself of expressing quantity. Singular
relates to the quantity of ONE for count nouns, to the unique referent
for most proper nouns, and to undifferentiated amount for non-count
nouns. Plural, on the other hand, relates to the quantity of MORE
THAN ONE for count nouns, to the unique referent for some proper
noun (the Canaries=the Canary Islands), and to individual
operational units that reflect plural composition (scissors, stairs).

Let’s move to the second section, dealing with the expression of

quantity through numerals. The expression of quantity by means of
numerals is given by three sets:

 Cardinal numbers (one, two, three…) give the exact amount of

something by means of whole numbers.
 Ordinal numbers (first, second…) express the sequence order
of items.
 Fractions (one third)

Numerals can function as pronouns and as determiners.

150.000 people died of cancer in Britain last year

One third of British adults are still smoking.

United Kingdom is the first European country in the list of obese

countries; Spain is the second

I am going to move on to my second section. A second way of

expressing quantity is by means of indefinite pronouns. Some of
these can also function as determiners. Within this group we can
establish two different categories:

1. Universal pronouns: we have to consider the universal

compound indefinites (everybody, someone, nothing), where
the suffixes –ONE and –BODY are used for people, -THING
for objects and -WHERE for places. These words are used to
express totality or lack of exception. All these pronouns take
singular verbs. However they have a collective reference and
usually entail a reference to a number of three or more.

Everybody in England is being encouraged by the government to

take more holidays in their own country
EACH is used with count nouns. It can appear alone as a pronoun,
but it is common to find the expression EACH ONE.

Each British person spends 25 hours a week watching TV

Quantifiers like the compounds EVERY-, EACH and EVERY can be

termed distributive, because they pick out the members of a set
singly rather than considering them in the mass. It is for this reason
that they are singular in number.

BOTH and ALL are used for count nouns in plural.

All British teenagers have a mobile phone

Both England and Ireland have greatly improved their standards of

living

ALL is also used for noncount nouns.

All Britain is suffering a rise in prices.

ALL refers to quantities of more than two. BOTH refers to dual

number.

Both the Queen and Prince Charles are trying to improve the
country’s image

BOTH and ALL may be followed by a determiner, in which case it is

optional to insert the preposition OF (all of the children; both of their
bothers). Grammatically, when followed by OF, ALL and BOTH are
pronouns. However, when they are followed by a determiner they
are predeterminers (all the boys).

2. Partitive pronouns: within this group, we can distinguish

three different subclasses:

a) Assertive partitive indefinites: they express a positive but

uncertain number of identity. SOME is used for plural count and
noncount nouns. It may be a determiner or a pronoun. As a
determiner, SOME also occurs with singular count nouns, especially
temporal nouns. With other singular nouns, SOME is less usual and
has the meaning of “a certain” or “some… or other”

British people spend some money on travelling

Some people drink more coffee than tea

Some day, the importance of English in the world will decrease

I had some strange feeling about going to London

b) Non-assertive partitive indefinites: they express two ideas at

the same time but still an uncertain number of identity since their
basic meaning is negative. The contexts which require the ANY
series involve the negatives and the interrogatives. Any can be
followed by noncount or count nouns. It can function as a pronoun.
ANY is distinguished from EITHER in representing a choice between
3 or more, whereas EITHER limits the choice to two.

I don’t want any sugar in my tea

Do you need any help?

I haven’t told any of my relatives / either of my parents

c) Negative partitive pronouns: they include NOBODY and NO

ONE for personal reference in count singular nouns, whereas
NOTHING and NOWHERE have non-personal reference.

Nobody in Britain would eat biscuits with their right hand, as it is

impolite

There is nothing British can do about London pollution

NONE and NEITHER are used for singular count nouns, and NONE
can also be used for plural count nouns and noncount nouns. They
can be followed by an of-partitive. NEITHER has a dual reference.

None of the students learnt to drive before the age of 16

Neither of the students learnt to drive on the right side of the road

Up to this point I have been dealing with indefinite pronouns. Now I

am going to move on to deal with quantifying pronouns. Within the
quantifying pronouns grammarians usually include the universal and
partitive pronouns, and numerals, which I have seen in my previous
sections. Moreover, within this group we also include the so-called
enumerative quantifiers, functioning both as pronouns and as
determiners. Some of them are MUCH, MANY, LITTLE, FEW,
PLENTY OF, A LOT OF, A GREAT DEAL OF, ENOUGH and
SEVERAL.

MANY means “a large number” and is used with plural count nouns.
In this sense, it contrasts with A FEW / FEW, meaning “a small
number”. On the other hand, MUCH means “a large amount” and is
used with noncount nouns. In this sense, it contrasts with “A
LITTLE”, which means “small amount”.

Britain has many pubs around the country but a few discos

British devote much time to gardening but a little time to housework

MUCH and MANY have acquired some non-assertive force, so they

are more often used with a negative or interrogative implication. In
the affirmative, there is a preference for other open-class quantifiers,
such as A GREAT DEAL, PLENTY OF, A LOT OF, ETC.
Syntactically, these quantifiers consist of a noun of quantity (lot,
deal, amount…) followed by OF and often preceded by the indefinite
article.

SEVERAL is always used with plural count nouns.

British children have several weeks off throughout the school year

ENOUGH is used with both count and noncount nouns.

In Britain there are not enough doctors to assist all of the population

There is no money enough to improve the education conditions

Now I am going to move on to deal with some determiners which

express quantity. We can find determiners such as HALF, which can
occur with plural count nouns and noncount nouns.

Half British population is obese

He visited half of the British museums

Here we also include the so called multipliers (once, twice, three

times, double…). They can combine with singular and plural heads.

Spanish people spend three times more money on eating out than
British do
Now in my last section I am going to have a look at some partitive
constructions. Both count and noncount nouns can enter partitive
constructions, that is, constructions denoting a part of a whole.
These constructions can be expressed by a wide range of
constructions formed by A + noun + OF, being the most frequent A
PIECE OF.

Noncount nouns denote undifferentiated mass. However, the

expression of quantity and thus countability can be achieved by
means of certain general partitive nouns, in particular PIECE, BIT,
ITEM… followed by an of-phrase.

Doctors offered population a piece of advice to prevent bird flu

In addition to these general partitives there are also some restricted

typical partitives which form expressions with specific concrete
noncount nouns, such as:

AN ATOM / GRAIN OF TRUTH

A BLOCK OF ICE / FLATS / SEATS

A LUMP OF SUGAR / COAL / LEAD

A STICK OF CHALK / CANDY / DYNAMITE

A STRIP OF CLOTH / PAPER / CLOTH

With count nouns, some specific partitive nouns are used:

A CROWD OF PEOPLE

A HERD OF CATTLE

A FLOCK OF BIRDS

A BUNCH OF FLOWERS

Fractional partition can also be expressed by such general

quantitative items as HALF, WHOLE OF, etc.

A quarter of the cake

The whole of the sandwich

The measure partitives are quantifiers which express precise
quantities denoting length, area, volume and weight.

LENGTH: foot, metre, yard, mile…

AREA: acre, hectare

VOLUME: litre, pint, gallon

WEIGHT: ounce, pound, kilo, ton.

All in all, there are many different ways of expressing quantity

through different devices and semantic and syntactic choices. Within
this topic I have looked at the definition of quantity, the distinction
between count and noncount nouns and between singular and
plural, the numeral, the indefinite pronouns, quantifying pronouns
and determiners and some partitive constructions.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Downing, A & P. Locke, (2002). A University Course in English

Grammar. Routledge: London.

Leech, G & J. Svartvik, (1996). A Communicative Grammar of

English. Longman: London

Quirk, R & R. Greembaum, (1973). A University Grammar of

English. Longman: London