Kies het juiste hoeveelheidswoord
Om de vragen How much? and How many? te beantwoorden worden bepaalde hoeveelheidswoorden gebruikt met telbare zelfstandig naamwoorden (friends, cups, people), andere met ontelbare zelfstandige naamwoorden (sugar, tea, money) en weer andere met alle soorten zelfstandig naamwoorden.
| Alleen met ontelbare zelfstandig naamwoorden | Met alle soorten zelfstandig naamwoorden | Alleen met telbare zelfstandig naamwoorden |
|---|---|---|
| a little | no, none, not any | a few |
| a bit of | some | a number of |
| any | several | |
| a great deal of | a lot of, lots of | a great number of |
| a large amount of | plenty of | a large number of |
Voorbeelden
- Would you like some tea and a few cookies?
- I always put a little milk and some carrots in my soup.
- He has several apples. I don't have any fruit at all.
- She has plenty of clothes for the winter.
- I recieved a large amount of feedback from my survey.
Gebruik van "Much" en "Many"
Much en many worden voornamelijk gebruikt in vragende en ontkennende zinnen. Ze worden ook gebruikt in bevestigende en ontkennende zinnen in combinatie met too en so. Let op: het woord many kan op zichzelf gebruikt worden in bevestigende zinnen, maar het woord much niet. Much wordt vervangen in bevestigende zinnen met a lot of or lots of (deze uitdrukkingen kunnen many ook vervangen).
| Ontelbare zelfstandig naamwoorden | Telbare zelfstandig naamwoorden |
|---|---|
| How much sugar do you have? | How many people came to the concert? |
| There's not much sugar at the store. | Not many people came to the concert. |
| I have too much sugar at home. | There were too many people at the concert. |
| I don't know what to do with so much sugar. | It's a problem when there are so many people. |
| I wish there was not so much sugar here. | There were not so many people last year. |
| There is a lot of sugar in candy. | There are many people who want to come. = There are a lot of people who want to come. |