QUANTITY

Countable

Uncountable

- not many
? how many
too many

- not much
? how much
too much

few
(=not many)
a few (=some)

little (=not much)

a little (=some)

There are few people.

There are a few people.

Theres little time.

Theres a little time.

several
There are several players.
a small/ good/ large/ great number of ;
a couple of (informal)

a good/ great deal of;

a small/ large amount of

A large number of fans watch the match.

He won a great deal of money.

none of

no

None of the cars were red.

Theres no time.

A lot of/ lots of/ plenty of/ a lack of/ most of/ all of/ enough/ some/ any/
Shes got a lot of fans. (countable)
Theres been a lot of improvement in her tennis. (uncountable)

Some uncountable nouns can be limited by

using a countable expression:
a piece/bit of (bread, news, information, advice)
a drop of (water, milk)
a slice of (bread, toast, cake)
an item of (news)

I. Five of these sentences contain mistakes. Find and correct them. If a sentence is correct,
put a tick ( ) by it. You only need to change one word each time.
Example: There is a large number of sports information on the Internet. .
1. There isnt many news about David Beckham at the moment.
2. We have no money at all for new sports equipment. ...
3. How much players were injured during the game? ..
4. Football fans caused a great deal of damage to the stadium.
5. We dont have very many time to prepare for the championship.
6. There are always plenty if spectators at the London Marathon. ...
7. They only have a small amount of tickets left for the final game. ...
8. How many money will the new tennis court cost? ...

II. Complete this extract from an e-mail with few/a few or little/a little.
Sorry I havent been in touch. Ive been training very hard for the championship and Ive had
very (1) time to relax or enjoy myself recently. My trainer is extremely strict, and he
insists I train every day. I have managed to get away on (2) occasions, though. I think its
important to take (3).. time off now and then. You cant train all the time, can you? Last
weekend I went into town and did some shopping, although, to be honest, I have very (4)
money to spare. And yesterday, (5) fans came to see me. They were very impressed
when I told them about my training routine. Very (6) people realise how difficult training
for a big event can be.
III. Complete the second sentence so that it has a similar meaning to the first sentence,
using the word given. Dont change the word given. You must use between 2 and 5
words, including the word given.
1. The players spent a lot of time training for the big game.
deal
The players spent ... training for the big game.
2. My brother is not very interested in sport.
much
My brother doesnt show ... sport.
3. There is a complete lack of sports facilities at our college.
no
Our college has ... all.
4. The government spends very little money on education.
small
The government only spends . money on education.
5. Not many fans attended the match on Saturday.
very
The match on Saturday was attended .. fans.
2