quantity

quantifying determiner + OF + possessive determiner + noun phrase

When a quantifying determiner and a possessive determiner are used together before a noun, they indicate the quantity of something that belongs to someone or something else. For instance, in the sentence “For most of my life, I was terrified of ghosts,” the phrase “most of my” signifies a large portion of the speaker’s life. Similarly, in “All of our fathers enter our doors feeling hopeless,” the phrase “all of our” refers to every father associated with a certain group. In “Many of his senior team thought he was crazy,” the phrase “many of his” denotes a large number of a specific group associated with a person.

quantifying determiner + OF + possessive determiner + noun phrase Read More »

not + any | many | much + NOUN

In negative contexts, “much” and “many” denote a small amount or number of uncountable and countable nouns respectively. “Any” implies the absence of something, applicable to both countable and uncountable nouns. For instance, “Not many companies can build planes” implies a small number of such companies. “There’s not much difference between them” suggests a minimal difference. “I don’t have any apples” means zero apples are present.

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some | any | each | a few + of + PRONOUN

In the English Grammar Profile, B1 point 49 in the category of PRONOUNS/quantity  is defined as: increasing range of pronouns (‘some’, ‘a few’, ‘any’, ‘each’) with ‘of’ followed by an object pronoun. An iWeb search for: some|any|each of _P 1 SOME OF THEM 180790 TLC SPEAKING TEST EXAMPLE: There are many types of chocolates in this world, but unfortunately,  I‘m a fussy girl and I just like some of them. female, India,

some | any | each | a few + of + PRONOUN Read More »

too | so + much

We use too before an adjective or adverb to mean ‘more than we need or want’. For example:

This shirt is too big for me.
You are driving too fast.
We use too much or too many before a noun to mean ‘more than we need or want’. For example:

There is too much sugar in this cake. (uncountable noun)
There are too many people in this room. (countable noun)
We use so much or so many before a noun to mean ‘a large amount of something’. For example:

I have so much work to do. (uncountable noun)
She has so many friends. (countable noun)

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a little | bits of | a bit of | a bit of a | a little bit of

‘BIT’ related to quantity is countable = a bit of … bits of … For example: By inserting those genes into yeast, we could produce little bits of that smell and be able to, maybe, smell a little bit of something that‘s lost forever. TED A2 in the English Vocabulary Profile: bit = a small amount or piece of something B1 in the Oxford Learner Dictionary: [countable] bit of something (especially British English) a small

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adverb + determiner

Here are a few examples of determiners premodified by intensifiers. There are hardly any phone booths left in this city.   TLC male India B1 We have nearly all the big automobile companies. TLC male India, B1   It took me virtually no time at all. Listen to this expert example B1 point 48 in the category of DETERMINERS/quantity is defined as: modify determiners with adverbs. There is clashing information in the English Grammar Profile.  The example

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most | enough | plenty of + NOUN

B1 Point 43 in the category of DETERMINERS is defined as: increasing range of quantifying determiners with both plural nouns and uncountable nouns (‘most’, ‘enough’, ‘plenty of’, ‘loads of’). *This overlaps another B1 point. PELIC WRITING CLASS EXAMPLES: Most students eat lunch and dinner in a cafeteria. Korean, Female, Level 3   In addition, the people who lived in Korea 100 years ago didn’t have enough transportation. Korean, Male, Level 3   *Note that

most | enough | plenty of + NOUN Read More »

several | a few of

In the English Grammar Profile, B1 point 39 in the category of DETERMINERS is defined as: wide range of quantifying determiners with plural nouns (‘several’, ‘millions of’, ‘a few of’). *Note that if ‘millions of’ is used as hyperbole, then it is a C1 point. TLC, Speaking test examples: There are very few sports cars in Sri Lanka. We don’t

several | a few of Read More »