Quantifier(量词）

A few and few, a little and little

These expressions show the speaker's attitude towards the quantity he/she is referring to.

A few (for countable nouns) an a little (for uncountable nouns) describe the quantity in a  positive way:

• "I've got a few friends" (= maybe not many, but enough)
• "I've got a little money" (= I've got enough to live on)

Few and little describe the quantity in a negative way:

• Fewpeople visited him in hospital (= he had almost no visitors)
• He had little money (= almost no money)

Quantifiers with countable and uncountable nouns

Some adjectives an adjectival phrases can only go with uncountable nouns (salt, rice, money, advice), and some can only go with countable nouns (friends, bags, people). The words in the middle column can be with both countable and uncountable nouns.

With Uncountable Nouns	With Both	With Countable Nouns
How much?	How much?               or How many?	How many?
a little	no/none	a few
a bit (of)	not any	a number (of)
	some (any)	several

Note: much and many are used in negative an question forms.

Example:
* How much money have you got?
* How many cigrattes have you smoked?

* There's not much sugar in the cupboard.
* There weren't many people at the party.

They are also used with too, (not) so, and (not) as

There were too many people at the party.
It's a problem when there are so many people.
There's not so much work to do this week.

In positive statements, we use a lot of:
* I've got a lot of work this week.
* There were a lot of people at the concert.

Some or any

Some	In positive statements.	I gave him some money. We bought some food.
Any	In negative statements.	She didn’t have any money. I couldn’t find any books.

Some and any are used with countable an uncountable nouns, to describe an indefinite or incomplete amount.

It is also used in questions where we are wure about the answer.
"Did he give you some tea?" (= I'm sure he did.)
"Is there some fruit juice in the fridge?" (= I think there is)

Some is used where the questions is not a request for information, but a way of making a request, encouraging or giving an invitation.
"Could I have some books, please?"
"Why don't you take some books home with you?"
"Would you like some books?"

Any is used in questions and with not in negative statements.
"Have you got any tea?"
"He didn't give me any tea."
"I don't think we've got any tea left."