Determiners/Quantity Expressioins

Determiners/Quantity Expressioins

Determiners/Quantity expression are other words which can be used with countable and uncountable nouns to shows quantity.

Some and Any

In general, some ( also somebody/ someone/ something) is used in possive sentence and any ( also anybody, anyone, anything) in negative sentence. Both can be used for countable or uncountable nouns.

SOME ( in positive sentence)

1.     We bought some  flowers yesterday

2.      He is busy. He is got some work to do.

3.     There is somebody at the door.

4.     I am hungry. I want something to eat.

ANY ( in negative sentences)

1.     We did not buy any  flowers yesterday

2.     He is lazy. He never does any  work

3.     There is not anybody at the work.

4.     I am not hungry. I do not want anything  to eat.

Further explanation:

In most question,ANY is used and SOME is used if a positive answer is expected.

1.     Have you got any  news from her?   No,i haven’t

2.     Has anybody seen my bag?               Yes,it’s under the table

MANY and MUCH (=banyak)

MANY is used for countable nouns ( plural) nad MUCH is for uncountable nouns.

MANY

1.     I have many  good books

2.     Andy helped many friends  yesterday

3.     Will you give me many apples?

MUCH

1.     I need much money  repair this car.

2.     She didn’t take much sugar  from this jar.

3.     They drank much coffee  last night.

MANY and MUCH = a lot of/ lots of  can be used for countable or uncountable nouns.

1.     I will buy a lot of  English books.James drank a lot of  beer yesterday night

Many                                             Much   

2.     There are a lot of student in the room.   He spends a lot of sugar every day.

  Many                                                Much  

Note:

MANY and MUCH is usually used in negative sentence an question and A LOT OF is more usual in positive sentence.

1.      We didn’t spend much  money.

 A lot of

2.      Do you know many  people.

       A lot of

Instead of  MANY and MUCH, A LOT OF is more usual in positive sentence.

Example:

We spent a lot of money. ( NOT USUAL : We spent much money.)

FEW/ A FEW and LITTLE/ A LITTLE (=sedikit)

FEW/ A FEW and LITTLE/ A LITTLE is used for uncountable nouns.

FEW/LITTLE (without ‘a’) has negative ideas (= not much/not many)

1.      We must be quick. There is little  time. (not much/not enough time. (not much/not enough time)

2.     He isn’t popular. He has few  friends.(=not many,not enough friend)

3.     There is very little  time.

4.     He has very few  friends.

A FEW / A LITTLE  are more positive. A little =some, a small amount

                                                          A few = some , a small number

1.     Let’s have a drink. We have got a little time before the train leaves.

(a little time= some time, enough time to have a drink)

2.     I can speak English a little .( so we can talk a bit)

3.     I enjoy my life here. I have a few  friends and we often meet.

(a few friends= not many friends but enough to have a good time)

4.      When did you see Bob last time? A few days ago. (= some days ago)

Compare:

5.    He spoken little English, so it was diffult to communicate with him.

6.    He spoken a little English,so it we were able to communicate with him.

7.    Jane is lucky. She has a few problems. (=not many problems)

8.    Things are not going so well for her. She has few problems.(= some problems).