The quantifiers are very important because you need them to tell the quantity or the amount of something. You can just say we eat apple in a sentence and that is already a correct sentence. But many times, you need to determine how many apple you eat or how much sugar you need to bake an apple pie. Are you interested to meet the quantifiers? Keep scrolling! You usually put quantifiers before the noun to specify the amount of the noun.
Example : I need some milk for the birthday cake.
Yup! The word some is the quantifier of the noun milk. There you go! First of all, we need to put in mind that nouns are divided into two categories based on its amount. They are countable and countable noun. Countable noun is the noun which can be counted such as apple, table, trousers, chair, spoon, ball, etc. on the other hand, uncountable noun is the noun which cannon be easily counted and divided such as sugar, salt, milk, water, sand, and, etc. You can pay attention to the table below to understand more about the difference between countable and uncountable noun.
| COUNTABLE NOUNS | UNCOUNTABLE NOUNS |
| Clothe Glass Apple Fan Photo | Coffee Tea Flour Mud Cement |
What do you think? Is it easier now to understand the difference between countable and uncountable noun? Let’s go further to the quantifiers!
“A” versus “An”
The quantifier “A” and “An” can only be used for countable noun. In Bahasa Indonesia, A and An translate to “sebuah”. There is a rule for using this quantifier. “An” is used before a noun which starts with vowel (A, I, U, E, O) sounds. So, even if the word starts with the consonant letter but the sound starts with vowel sound, you have to use “An” instead of “A”. For instance, the word hour starts with consonant letter. But, the sound starts with vowel sound ˈaʊə(r). Now let’s define how we’re going to use “A”. The quantifier “A” is used before the noun starting with consonant vowel. Check out the examples below!
An apple, an hour, an orange, an egg, an ant, an umbrella, an interesting view.
A room, a bottle, a chair, a table, a person, a mother, a grandiose hotel.
“Much” versus “Many”
“Much” is used when the noun is uncountable and “Many” is used when the noun is countable. In Bahasa Indonesia, much and many translate to “banyak”. You can use these words to explain something in a big quantity. Here are some examples!
| Many | Much |
| – I have so many things to do today – Rudy has so many football jerseys. I envy hi – My mother said that she studied in so many countries before she moved here.m! | – He pays so much money for that car – Dinda doesn’t like to put too much sugar on her pie. -Resti said that she needed much more time to think about it. |
“Few” versus “Little”
As the opposite of much and many, “Few” and “Little” are used to explain the small amount of something. Few, is used for countable noun and little, on the other hand, is used for countable noun. In bahasa Indonesia, the words few and little translate to “sedikit”. Look at the table below to gain more understanding!
| Few | Little |
| – Boby bought fewer apples than he did yesterday. – We only need few students for this project – There are few chairs inside the ballroom and we need to buy more. | – I gave him a little sauce to eat the burger – Juan scrub a little oil to cure his scar – we need to buy more. We only have a little coffee in the kitchen |
“Some” versus “Any”
While the previous quantifiers are aimed based on the amount (countable or uncountable), “Some” and “Any” are used based on the sentences. “Some” is use for affirmative sentences while “Any” is used for negative and interrogative sentences. Both of them can be used for countable and uncountable words. Let’s jump to examples!
| + | – | ? |
| There are some scissors in the drawer. | The research is not showing any result. | Do you need any help? |
| David and Luis are asking some questions to the teacher | She does not need to bring any more paper. We have enough. | Did mom tell any good news? |
| Taylor Swift has just released some new songs. | Luigi did not know any information about the concert. | Have you eaten had vegetable today? |
Results
#1. Hey, are you going to the market? Can you please get me ______ milk? We’re running out of it
#2. Lisa is a very famous artist in Korea. She’s got so ______ fans from all around the world
#3. Hey! I like that song so _______! I am impressed that you like it as ______!
#4. Lucy loves to buy ____ cup of coffee before she drive to office
#5. Tiara said that she needed ______ money to finish the project. That was why she called me to borrow 1 million.
#6. I have enrolled my-self to the webinar and I think there will be _______ participants on this meeting.
#7. I know her quite so well; do you need me to find ______ information about her?
#8. Jakarta is a very big city with big opportunities that so _________ people come and stay there to look for better job and living.
#9. Have you heard of this song? I really like this band. I could listen to their songs all day. This one right here is my favorite. I have _______ more collection in my playlist. I can share it with you if you want.
#10. . Edgar Allan Poe is one of my favorite poets. I printed _______ of his poems and pin them on my bedroom wall.
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