Grammar › Adjectives

Adjectives of quantity

640 fill-in-the-gap exercises, 64 tests of ten

Words that say how much or how many. The choice depends on whether the noun can be counted.

Countable or not

Everything on this page depends on that one question. Books, chairs, people can be counted. Water, advice, traffic, money cannot.

• many, a few, few, how many go with countables
• much, a little, little, how much go with uncountables
• a lot of, plenty of, some, any, enough, no go with both

much in positive sentences

Much is at home in negatives and questions and stiff in positives:

I don’t have much time. ✓ Do you have much time? ✓ I have much time. ✗ — say a lot of time.

Many does not have this problem: many people is fine anywhere.

a few or few

Dropping the article reverses the tone:

• a few friends — several, and that is fine
• few friends — not many, and that is a shame

Same with a little and little:

• *We have a little time. — enough to do something
• *We have little time. — hardly any

In everyday speech, few and little on their own sound formal; people say not many and not much.

enough

Goes before a noun but after an adjective:

enough money, but warm enough

All forms

Examples

Taken from the 640 sentences in this drill. The answer is highlighted.

• There is only enough space available in the parking lot.
• She ate some of the ice cream on her own.
• There were many cars parked in front of the building.
• They ate half of the pizza at the party and took the rest home in a box.
• The children picked numerous apples from the orchard and filled every basket.
• They received all of the votes in the election, and the other party got none.
• She finished reading the whole book in one day.
• I only have few friends who understand me.
• I need to buy a few groceries for the party.
• I bought several apples from the grocery store.
• We only have little milk left in the fridge.
• Tom has more pencils than Jane.

Mistakes to avoid

Other forms of Adjectives