QUANTIFIERS

THE CORRECT AND PROPER USE

 Definition of Quantifiers

Quantifiers are adjectives and adjectival phrases that give approximate or

specific answers to the questions How Much? and How Many?.

Let us see how they are used in these different contexts:

1. Numbers in English: Ordinal, Cardinal and Percentages.
2. Choosing the quantifier: Countable and Uncountable Nouns.
3. Expessing opinions about quantity: A little, a few / little, few.
4. Indefinite and Incomplete quantities.
5. Using graded quantifiers to compare amounts.
6. Using the quantifiers too and enough.
 1. NUMBERS IN ENGLISH

The cardinal numbers (one, two, three, etc.) are adjectives referring
to quantity, and the ordinal numbers (first, second, third, etc.) refer
to distribution.

Examples:
There are twenty-five people in the room.
He was the fourteenth person to win the award.
Six hundred thousand families were affected by the Tsunami.
He went to Israel for the third time this year.
 READING DECIMALS

Read decimals aloud in English by pronouncing the decimal point as

point, then read each digit individually. Money is not read this
way.

Written Said
0.5 point five
0.25 point two five
0.73 point seven three
0.05 point zero five
2.95 two point nine five
 READING FRACTIONS

Read fractions using the cardinal number for the numerator and the ordinal
number for the denominator, making the ordinal number plural if the numerator
is larger than 1. This applies to all numbers except for the number 2, which is read
half when it is the denominator, and halves if there is more tan one.
Written Said
1/3 one third
3/4 three fourths
5/6 five sixths
1/2 one half
3/2 three halves
 PRONOUNCING PERCENTAGES

Percentages are easy to read aloud in English. Just say the number
and then add the word percent.
Written Pronounced
5% five percent
25% twenty-five percent
36.25% thirty-six point two five percent
100% one hundred percent
400% four hundred percent
 READING SUMS OF MONEY

To read sums of money, first read the whole number, then add the currency name.
If there is a decimal, pronounce the decimal after the currency name as a whole
number and not as the regular way. Only applies to currency.
Written Pronounced
25$ twenty-five dollars
52 fifty-two euros
140 one hundred and forty pounds
$43.25 forty-three dollars and twenty-five cents
(shortened to forty-three twenty-five in everyday speech)
1200$ twelve hundred dollars
 PRONOUNCING MEASURMENTS

Just read out the number, followed by the unit of measurment, which
will often be abbreviated in the written form.
Written Spoken
60m sixty meters
25km/h twenty-five kilometers per
hour
11ft eleven feet
2L two liters
3tbsp three tablespoons
1tsp one teaspoon
 PRONOUNCING YEARS

Just read out the years in this logic way. Interestingly, these rules to
Reading streets addresses as well.
Written Spoken
2016 twenty sixteen / two thousand sixteen
2008 two thousand eight
1945 nineteen forty-five
1908 nineteen o eight
1900 nineteen hundred
866 BC eight hundred sixty-six BC / eight sixty-six
BC
 HOW TO SAY 0 (ZERO)

There are several wasy to pronounce the number 0, used in different contexts.
Unfortunately, usage varies between different English-speaking countries. These
rules apply to American English.

Pronunciation - Usage
Zero - Used to read the number by itself (decimals, percentages, phone numbers,
fixed expressions).
O (the letter name) Used to read years, addresses, times and temperatures.
Nil Used to report sport scores.
Nought not used in the USA.
 EXERCISES

3.04 + 2.02 = 5.06

There is a 0% chance of rain.
The temperture is -20C.
Monicas pone is 0171 390 1062.
I live at 4604 Smith Street.
He became King in 1409.
I waited until 4:05.
The score was 4-0.
 2. CHOOSING THE RIGHT
QUANTIFIER
To answer the questions How Much? and How Many? certain quantifiers can be
used with countable nouns (friends,cups, people), others with uncountable
nouns (sugar, tea, money) and still others with all types of nouns.

Uncountable Nouns All Types Countable Nouns

a little no, none, not any a few
a bit of some a number of
- any several
a great deal of a lot of, lots of a great number of
a large amount of plenty of a large number of
 EXERCISES

Would you like some coffee and a few cookies?

Ialways put a little milk and some carrots in my
soup.
He has several apples. I dont have any fruit at all.
She has plenty of clothes for this winter.
I received a large amount of feedback from my
survey.
 USING MUCH AND MANY.

Much and many are mainly used in interrogative and negative sentences. They
are also commonly used in affirmative and negative sentences in combination with
too and so.
Notice: the word many can be used alone in affirmative sentences while the
word much cannot. Much is replaced in affirmative sentences with a lot of or
lots of (applied to many as well).

Uncountable nouns Countable nouns

much many
too / so much too /so many
not so much not so many
a lot of / lots of (aff. only) a lot of / lots of (aff. only)
 EXERCISES
Uncountable Nouns
How much sugar do you have?
Theres not much sugar at the store.
I have too much sugar at home.
I dont know what to do with so much
sugar.
I wish there was not so much sugar
here.
There is a lot of sugar in other
countries.
Countable Nouns
How many people came to the line to
buy sugar?
Not many people came to the line.
There were too many people at
Bicentenario.
Its always a problem when there are so
many people.
There were not so many lines last year.
There are lots of Bachaqueros around
the world.
 3. EXPRESSING OPINIONS ABOUT QUANTITY

The quantifiers few and a few, and little and a little seem nearly identical
but they are actually quite distinct. These expressions show the speakers attitude
towards the quantity referring to as either positive or negative.

POSITIVE NEGATIVE
a few / a little. few / little.
ATTITUDE ATTITUDE
Implies that although the speaker Indicates a total lack of the noun, but in
may not have much, he has enough. a polite way though.
Uncountable Uncountable
Countable Nouns Countable Nouns
Nouns Nouns
I have a little I have a few He got little money Few people visited
money left. friends. for his guitar. him in hopsital.
I have a little free I have a few I have little time for Weve received few
time on flowers in my TV visitors this week.