THE COMPONENTS OF COMMON NOUNS ( 3 )

1. DETERMINERS THAT can be used with

COUNTABLE and UNCOUNTABLE NOUNS are

some , a lot of , plenty of , any

e.g.

i. with countable nouns

My mother bought some apples yesterday.

The farmer rears a lot of chicken in his farm.

There are plenty of marbles in the box.

ii. with uncountable nouns

My uncle gave me some pocket money.

Sammy drank a lot of coffee this morning.

The victim lost plenty of blood during the accident.

'Any' is mainly used in the

a. negative sentence.

e.g.

There isn’t any biscuits left in the jar. ( countable )

There isn’t any sugar left in the jar. ( uncountable )

b. interrogative sentence.

e.g.

Is there any biscuit left in the jar? ( countable )

Is there any sugar left in the jar? ( uncountable )

2. DETERMINERS THAT can be used with the

COUNTABLE NOUNS only are

a few , many , several , a large number of ,

a great number of,

e.g.

A sly fox killed a few  of my ducklings last week.

Many of the onlookers did not help the victim.

Several students came to visit me last night.

A number of  birds flew towards the Southern sky.

A great number of spectators gathered at the park to watch a concert.

3. DETERMINERS THAT can be used with the

UNCOUNTABLE NOUNS only are

a little , much , a large amount of ,

a great amount of , a great deal of

e.g.

The cook adds a little sugar to the carrot soup.

I don’t have much money with me now.

There is a large amount of dirty water in the monsoon drain.

The contractor bought a large amount of sand and cement to build his garage.

The robber lost a great deal of blood after being shot by the police.

4. To show an amount that is unknown or not given.

we use ' some ' and ' any ' before countable and uncountable

nouns.

i. We can form compound words from ' some ' and ' any ' 

e.g.

 ' someone ' , ' somebody ' and ' something '.

These are replaced by ' anyone ' , ' anybody ' and ' anything '

in the negative and interrogative statements. 

' No one ' , ' nobody ' and ' nothing ' are the direct opposites of

' someone ' , ' somebody ' and ' something '.

For example:

Is there anybody in the room?                     ( Interrogative )

There is somebody inside the room.          ( Positive )

There is nobody inside the room.                ( Negative )

There isn't anything inside the box.             ( Negative )

There is nothing inside the box.                   ( Negative )

Is there something inside the box?             ( Interrogative )