all | both | a few + PLURAL NOUN

‘All’ and ‘both’ are predeterminers, meaning they come before other determiners.  For example: All the things”, “both our children”

In the English Grammar Profile, A2 point 22 in DETERMINERS is defined as:

increasing range of quantifying determiners with plural nouns ‘all’, ‘both’, ‘a few’

In the English Vocabulary Profile:

a few = A2 some, or a small number of

all  DETERMINER; PRONOUN =

A1 every person or thing in a group,

A1 the whole of a period of time,

A2 the whole amount of something

both  DETERMINER; PRONOUN = A1 used to talk about two people or things


A search in iWeb corpus for:

all|both _NN2

1 BOTH SIDES 258617
2 ALL THINGS 222190
3 ALL KINDS 211611
4 ALL SORTS 173460

They say the paper‘s getting all sorts of letters from people saying you‘re their inspiration.

listen

5 ALL AGES 156459
6 ALL STUDENTS 134399
7 ALL ASPECTS 131110
8 ALL TYPES 115579
9 ALL LEVELS 101574
10 ALL AREAS 63576
11 BOTH PARTIES 63099
12 ALL MEMBERS 58799
13 BOTH MEN 55709
14 ALL CASES 51268
15 ALL MEN 47284
16 ALL PARTS 45945
17 ALL CHILDREN 43851
18 ALL FORMS 42413
19 ALL SIDES 41977
20 ALL SIZES 41784
21 ALL PARTIES 41674
22 BOTH TEAMS 41573
23 ALL USERS 41180
24 BOTH CASES 37144
25 BOTH ENDS 37096
26 ALL COSTS 36856
27 BOTH WORLDS 36026
28 ALL ITEMS 36003
29 ALL OTHERS 35545
30 ALL EMPLOYEES 34902
31 BOTH WAYS 34878
32 ALL RIGHTS 31233
33 BOTH HANDS 28426
34 ALL PLAYERS 28259
35 ALL BLACKS 27834
36 ALL WOMEN 27374
37 ALL PRODUCTS 27118
38 ALL PARTICIPANTS 26910
39 BOTH PARENTS 26198
40 ALL DIRECTIONS 25964
41 ALL PATIENTS 25079
42 ALL ORDERS 25075
43 ALL FILES 22405
44 ALL APPLICANTS 22172
45 BOTH TYPES 22103
46 ALL WALKS 22029
47 ALL ACCOUNTS 21885
48 ALL PERSONS 20973
49 ALL AMERICANS 20044
50 ALL SHAPES 19906


a few _NN2

1 A FEW THINGS 121426
2 A FEW QUESTIONS 32845
3 A FEW MOMENTS 32445

And although he rides the bike 

for a few moments around the room,

 he ends up playing with the box instead.

TED

4 A FEW EXAMPLES 30077
5 A FEW TIPS 28285
6 A FEW DROPS 27538
7 A FEW WORDS 24353
8 A FEW STEPS 23805
9 A FEW WAYS 22557
10 A FEW OTHERS 22061
11 A FEW CLICKS 18708
12 A FEW FEET 18641
13 A FEW REASONS 17680
14 A FEW BLOCKS 16123
15 A FEW IDEAS 16079
16 A FEW OPTIONS 14398
17 A FEW BUCKS 14348
18 A FEW FRIENDS 13743
19 A FEW PLACES 12570
20 A FEW PIECES 11377
21 A FEW EXCEPTIONS 11019
22 A FEW LINES 11005
23 A FEW ITEMS 10784
24 A FEW POINTS 10732
25 A FEW CHANGES 10158
26 A FEW GAMES 9811
27 A FEW POUNDS 9676
28 A FEW CASES 8406
29 A FEW ISSUES 8314
30 A FEW SUGGESTIONS 7807
31 A FEW PICTURES 7773
32 A FEW PHOTOS 7709
33 A FEW PAGES 7635
34 A FEW DRINKS 7551
35 A FEW PROBLEMS 6877
36 A FEW SHOTS 6350
37 A FEW DEGREES 6279
38 A FEW TRICKS 6245
39 A FEW AREAS 6153
40 A FEW YARDS 5654
41 A FEW NOTES 5653
42 A FEW POSTS 5588
43 A FEW SPOTS 5471
44 A FEW OCCASIONS 5464
45 A FEW DETAILS 5321
46 A FEW ROUNDS 5179
47 A FEW COMMENTS 4880
48 A FEW THOUGHTS 4810
49 A FEW BOOKS 4698
50 A FEW TWEAKS 4695

A2 vocabulary:

(all|both|a few)

(areas|cases|clicks|costs|degrees|details|directions|few|files|forms|ideas|levels|lines|

members|moments|orders|pieces|points|posts|pounds|reasons|sides|sizes|sorts|teams|types|ways)

*there are many examples in PELIC of the above, and also note we now are adding where the sentence is error prone.

Here are some examples:

… and share with all members of the family.

Arabic, Female, level 3, reading class

 

For instance, there are a lot of people who like to go to both restaurants, so some people want to smoke, and some don’t want to, so both restaurants have a smoking area and a non-smoking area, but in TGI Friday, both areas are really close, so people who do not smoke or do not like smoke can smell smoking easily.

Thai, Male, level 4, writing class

 

 

In fact, all sorts of pasta are appeal to me …

Arabic, Male, level 4, writing class

 

There are white and red rose gardens filled with thousands of vibrant roses on both sides of the road.

Thai, Male, level 5, writing class

 

Furthermore, forming a study group and choosing a few members who want to improve their English may help you improve your English.

Chinese, Female, level 4, writing class

 

However, all types of libraries use the same plan and strategy to organize their collections and provide a wonderful service to their readers.

Arabic, Male, level 4, writing class

 

Here are a few reasons why I think like this.

Korean, Male, level 5, grammar class

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