Quantifiers MANY, MUCH, FEW, & LITTLE

The Quantifiers

Many and Much

Much and many are known as “quantifiers”. They are used to talk about quantities, amounts or degrees (along with ‘a lot of’ and ‘lots of’) and suggest a large quantity of something.

 

Many is used with plural, countable nouns (e.g. dogs, dollars, tables, children).

There aren’t many doctors in the hospital today. (doctors are countable)
  • Many Brits choose to retire in Spain. (Brits/British people are countable)
  • I think he has too many tattoos! I don’t like them.
  •  How many apples do you want?
  • I don’t think many people agree with her views on marriage.

Much is used with singular, uncountable nouns (e.g. happiness, music, water, time):

  • There isn’t much light in this room so let’s open the curtains. (light is uncountable)
  • Too much money was spent on the Royal Wedding. (money is uncountable)
  • How much time does it take to get to your house from here?
  • There wasn’t much noise coming from the house, even though there was a party going on.

Too is often used before much and many to mean: ‘more than was needed’.

  • I bought too much fruit at the market. We’ll never eat it all before it goes off!
  • There are too many people in the waiting room.

We use ‘so’ rather than ‘very’ before much and many in positive statements to emphasise a large quantity of something.

  • We have so much work to do today!
  • We have very much work to do today!

‘As much as’ or ‘as many as’ are used to make a comparison and show that something is the same as or equal to something else.

  • There are as many at this meeting as there were at the previous one.

 

INCREASE From 0% to 100%
With plural countable nouns, we use:
many more most
With uncountable nouns, we use:
much more

most

 

 

Examples

  • There are many people in England, more in India, but the most people live in China.
  • Much time and money is spent on education, more on health services but the most is spent on national defence.

Few vs. little

Little and few are “quantifiers”. When theyare used on their own they have a negative meaning to suggest ‘not as much or not as many as may be expected or wished for (not enough)’.

But be careful! When little and few are used with an article – a little or a few– both words mean ‘some’ and have a positive meaning (not much/not many but enough).

  • All she wanted was a few moments on her own. (some, a small number)
  • She had few moments on her own. (not many/almost none)
  • She saves a little money every month. (some, a small amount)
  • They had little money to spend. (not much/almost nothing)

1. Little

Little is used with singular, uncountable nouns to mean not as much as expected:

  • The play made little sense to me, but I’m glad you enjoyed it. (sense is uncountable) = the play didn’t make much sense.
  • She didn’t want to go, but she had little choice. (choice is uncountable) = she didn’t have much choice.

2. A little

A little is used with singular, uncountable nouns meaning ‘some’ (not much but enough)

  • We have a little time before the play starts so why don’t we get a drink?
  • We have a little space in our car if you want a lift.

3. Few

Few is used with plural, countable nouns to mean ‘not as many as expected’:

  • There are few people that I think would be qualified for the job. (people is countable) = there aren’t many people qualified for the job.
  • There are few tourists at this time of year so the beaches are nice and quiet. (tourists is countable) = there aren’t many tourists. 

4. A few

A few is used with plural, countable nouns to mean ‘some’:

  • There are a few good candidates that have applied so I’m sure we’ll find someone for the job.
  • We stayed in Spain a few days before going on to France. 

5. Some Notes

As well as having negative meanings, few and little on their own are also quite formal and are generally not used very much in everyday spoken English. It is more common to instead use a negative sentence with ‘many’ or ‘much’.

  • The play made little sense to me, but I’m glad you enjoyed it. = The play didn’t make much sense to me.
  • She didn’t want to go, but she had little choice. = She didn’t have much choice.
  • There are few people that I think would be qualified for the job. = There aren’t many people.
  • There are few tourists at this time of year so the beaches are nice and quiet. = There aren’t many tourists. 

We use of with (a) little and (a) few when they come before articles (a/an, the), demonstratives (this, that), possessives (my, your) or pronouns (him, them):

  • Put the flour into a bowl, blend with a little of the milk, beat in the egg yolks, then the sugar and the rest of the milk.
  • A few of his films were seen abroad.

 

DECREASE From 100% to 0%

With plural countable nouns:
few fewer fewest
With uncountable nouns:
little less least


 

Examples

  • Few rivers in Europe are not polluted.
  • Fewer people die young now than in the seventeenth century.
  • The country with the fewest people per square kilometre must be Australia.
  • Scientists have little hope of finding a complete cure for cancer before the year 2,000.
  • She had less time to study than Paul but had better results.
  • Give that dog the least opportunity and it will bite you.