Quantifiers and their ways of use

3.1. Quantifiers in dialogues

 

We use quantifiers not only in literature but also in our every day conversations, dialogues.

 

9.

A: I’ve got too much homework to do.

B: You’ve got a plenty of hours tomorrow when you could finish it.

A: There isn’t enough time to get ready.

B: There’s lots of time – we don’t need to be there until nine!

A: I never have anything to say

B: Don’t be silly. You’ve got couple you could talk about.

A: I’ve got no friends.

B: Come on, you’ve got loads of friends.

A: I haven’t got anything to wear

B: But you’ve got some really nice clothes

A: I haven’t got much money.

B: You only need enough money for taxi.

A: There’ll be too many people.

B: Oh, but only a few people are coming

 

In this dialogue there are some quantifiers such as too many, too much, some etc. Let’s consider all of them.

 

            too much and too many are Quantifiers of large quantity, too much we use with uncountable nouns and too many we use with countable nouns;

            plenty of and loads of mean enough and more. It is used before singular uncountable and plural nouns;

            enough is placed before the noun, to indicate the quantity required or necessary;

           lots of is used  mainly with singular uncountable and plural nouns;

           a few in this dialogue “gives a positive idea, it indicates that something exists, is present;

 

 

 

 

 

10.

Do you have any coffee?

No, I don't, but I've got some tea. Do you want some?

Yes, please.

Do you want a cookie too?

Sure, I love cookies.

I'm really hungry. Let's eat.

OK. I've got some chicken in the refrigerator, do you want some?

Yes, that sounds great.

I've also got some tacos in the cupboard, and there's an apple pie as well.

Do you have any juice?

Sure, it's over there. Help yourself.

 

11.

It's Mum's birthday next week. Let's get her a present.

OK. How about some perfume?

Well, she doesn't have any. She doesn't use it.

So how about some clothes or a watch?

That's a good idea, but I don't know her size.

Let's just buy a gift voucher. Then she can choose her own present.

Great idea!

 

From these dialogues let’s take some and any.

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

              Some means a little, a few or a small number or amount and is used in positive statements;

               Any means one, some or all and is used in questions and with not in negative statements;

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

3.2. Quantifiers in real life (expressions / phrases)

 

             An expression of quantity e.g. one, several, many, much may precede a noun. As we know some expressions of quantity are used only with countable nouns, some only with uncountable nouns, and some with either countable or uncountable nouns.

 

Expressions of quantity

12.  I ate one apple.

 

13.  I go for a walk with my friends every day.

 

Here we use expressions of quantity “one” and “every” with countable nouns such as an apple and day

 

14. Yesterday I bought a great deal of sugar.

15. How much money have you got?

In these sentences we use expressions of quantity “great deal of”, “much” with uncountable nouns such as sugar and money

16. There is no apple on the table.

17.  I don’t like any rice.

not any/no we use with both countable and uncountable nouns. In the 16^th sentence expression of quantity “no” with countable noun an apple and in the 17^th sentence expression of quantity “any” with uncountable noun rice

The same with another expression of quantity plenty of, we use it with both nouns

18. There are plenty of houses near the station .

19. They bought plenty of oil for traveling around the Issykkul.

 

 

 

We usually use expression of quantity most with of, but let’s consider the following sentence:

 

20.  Most books are interesting.

 

In this sentence we are not referring to specific books, e.g. those books, your books or the books written by Mark Twain that’s why we can’t add here of to an expression quantity most if the noun it modifies is specific and it is preceded by this, that, these, those, my, John’s, their (any possessive) or the we can use of with “most”, for example:

 

21. Most of those books are mine.

 

22. Most of my books are in English.

 

23. Most of the books are on that table are mine.

 

Expressions of quantity followed by of + a specific noun

 

All/most/some/any + of+ specific plural countable or uncountable nouns

 

24. All of that furniture is uncomfortable. (uncountable)

 

25. Some of those chairs are comfortable. (countable)

 

Many,(a) few, several, both, two, one +of +specific plural countable nouns

 

26. Many of those people are my friends. (countable)

 

Much,(a)little+ of + specific uncountable nouns

 

27. Much of that money is mine

(uncountable)

 

Subject - Verb agreement in using of expressions of quantity

 

The verb is determined by the noun (or pronoun that follows of in most expressions of quantity, for example:

 

Some of +singular noun + singular verb

Some of + plural noun+ plural verb

 

28. Some of the book is good. (singular)

 

29. A lot of my friends are good. (plural)

 

 

But there is one exception:

 

 One of, each of, and every one of + plural noun + singular verb

 

30. One of, each of, every one of my friends is here

 

Phrases with quantifiers

 

There are a lot of phrases with quantifiers, we use them every day

For example, the quantifier half is commonly used by people:

 

31. We spent half our time visiting museums.

 

32. Half the tour was about history.

 

The same with not a, for example

33. Not a sheet of paper is left.

34. Not a one/ a bit/ a piece is left.

 

There are some widely used quantity phrases:

 

35. Any child needs love.

36. Every child needs love.

37. Each child / Each of the children needs love.

38. One child / One of my children needs help.

39. More than one of the kids needs help.

40. None / None of my children need help.

41. Neither child / Neither of my children wants help.

42. Much of the class wants help.

3.3. Comparative Analyses of rendering quantifiers into

Russian and English languages

 

              Each language has its own peculiarities, rules, of course, differences. And in this paragraph I want to make a comparative analysis of using quantifiers in Russian and English languages. As well as in English we use quantifiers in Russian a lot .Quantifiers of Russian language which is considered to be a type of determiner and denote imprecise quantity:

сколько, несколько, много, немного, мало.

       All of them in the sentences can act in the meaning of numerals and adverbs; and first four words, acting in the meaning of numerals, change on cases, and the word мало acts in a numeral only when noun comes together with a subject or object.

Let’s consider examples:

43. There are some books on the table.

              На полке лежит несколько (много, немного, мало) книг.

44.  I bought several books.

       Я купил несколько (много, немного, мало) книг.

45. How many books are on the table?

      Сколько книг лежит на столе?

46. How many books did they buy for the library?

      Сколько книг купили для библиотеки?

In these sentences несколько, много, немного, мало, сколько rule over the word книг

  (in genitive case), and make up word combination with this word.

      47. He told about a lot of books.

            Он говорил о нескольких (многих, немногих) книгах.

48. How many books did he tell about?

     О скольких книгах он говорил?

49. He was interested about a few books.

      Он интересовался несколькими (многими, немногими) книгами.

50. How many books was he interested about?

      Сколькими книгами он интересовался?

In these examples the words несколько, много, немного, сколько are agreed with noun книги, but don’t make up a word combination

In all sentences сколько, несколько, много, немного, мало are gathered with numeral quantifiers by meaning and connecting with noun.

Let’s compare:

 51. There are five books on the shelf.

        На полке лежит пять книг.

52. I bought five books.

    Я купил пять книг.

      53.  Five books are on the table.

      Пять книг лежит на столе.

       54. He told about five books .

        Он говорил о пяти книгах.

55. He was interested with five books.

      Он интересовался пятью книгами.

That’s why quantifiers such as a несколько, много, немного, мало are called Indefinite-Quantitative Numerals.

But these quantifiers are quite different from numerals. The words сколько and несколько have pronominal roots, pronominal meaning (question and indefinite), therefore they are pronouns-numerals.

All listed words can act in the meaning of adverbs. In this case they join to the verbs and are adverbial modifier of measure or degree, for example

56. She has changed a little for this year.

        Она несколько (немного, мало) изменилась за этот год.

57. It is as much courageous as resourceful.

       Столько же смел, сколько находчив.

58. It is as much courageous as resourceful.

       Бедная! Как она мало жила! Как она много любила!

            The selection properties of Quantifiers in Russian are very elaborate. The morphosyntax of numerals is probably the most complicated part of Russian grammar .Simplifying slightly, the following types of D-quantifiers can be distinguished based on their selection properties. Agreeing with the noun in case and gender:

e.g. весь- ‘all the’: все (nominative singular noun)

молоко (NOMSGN) ‘all (the) milk’.

 

          Selecting for the genitive (partitive) case. a. quantifiers used only in

nominative and accusative:сколько ‘how much,’ мало‘little,’ (не)достаточно ‘(in)sufficiently much,’

 

e.g. сколько(NOM) чаю (PART) ‘how much tea’,

but скольки(DAT) чаю (PART) ‘to how much tea’

 

 

 

 

 

            Measure phrases and proportional quantifiers which are used in any case (essentially these are nouns syntactically):

Два литра -‘two liters’;

Горсть -‘a handful’,

Половина- ‘half,

Половина (NOM) чаю (PART) ‘half of the tea’,

Половине(DAT) чаю(PART) ‘to half of the tea’.

 

Partitive case proper, unlike genitive чаю, sounds less natural with proportional quantifiers like половина than with other mass noun quantifiers, yet it is well attested in usage.

 

 Agreeing with the noun in case and gender. Selecting for singular:

 Каждый - ‘every,’ один - ‘one,’ тридцать один - ‘thirty one, and all

other numerals ending in odin

одно (NOMSGN)яблоко (NOMSGN)  ‘one apple’,

одному(DATSGN) яблоку (DATSGN) ‘to one apple’.

Selecting for plural:

Все - ‘all,’ (не) многие - ‘(not) many,’ e.g.

Все (NOMPL) яблоки(NOMPL) ‘all (the)apples’,

Всем (DATPL) яблокам (DATPL) ‘to all (the) apples’.

 

           Selecting for the genitive plural form quantifiers used only as a subject and direct object: мало - ‘few,’ (не) достаточно - ‘(in) sufficiently many,’

больше всего - ‘the most’ quantifiers used in any case (essentially they behave like nouns)

Сколько is used in cases other than nominative and accusative only when combined with count nouns.

Many pronominal elements in Russian are organized into morphologically regular series, mostly based on interrogatives. These include several series of indefinites but also quantifiers with different semantic contributions for a discussion.

          When prepositions combine with quantified NPs with series markers preceding the pronominal stem, the series marker precedes the preposition.

 

            In these examples, series markers are ни for the negative concord series and кое for an indefinite series:

 

59.  Don’t ask about anything!

        Ни о чем не спрашивай!

 

 

60. I stopped by his place with some business.

       Я к нему кое по каким делам заезжал

 

 Negative existential quantification

‘no’ is expressed by a combination of sentential negation не and negative concord items никакой / ни один, consisting of the particle ни-‘nor’ and either the interrogative determiner or the numeral ‘one;’ of these two, only никакой is used with mass nouns.

 

Value judgment cardinals

Value judgment cardinals come in many syntactic flavors. The two core monomorphemic, ones are много - ‘many, much’ and мало - ‘few, little’ can function as adverbs or like numerals (assigning partitive = 2nd genitive case). Some are adjectives (не ) многочисленный - ‘(non)numerous,’

малочисленный - ‘innumerous’), some are adjectives

morphologically but strictly occupy the leftmost position in their NP, i.e.

pattern with determiners не многие - ‘(not) many’. There are also pronominal series with много and мало as series markers,

 много кто - ‘many (people)’

 

61. We interviewed (very) many / few candidates.’

      Мы опросили многих / немногих кандитатов

 

62. Too many/few candidates participated in the elections.’

      Слишком много /мало кандидатов участвовали на выборах

 

4. Conclusion

            In this course paper I investigated Quantifiers and their ways use. I had chosen this theme because I was interested in it and also it is one of the most important part of speech in teaching grammar not only in English but in other languages too. Quantifiers play great role in the person’s speech as it expresses name imprecise quantity of something. During this analysis I’ve found a lot of interesting sides of quantifiers.

  Having investigated my Course Paper I made the following   conclusions:

 

• Quantifiers are used with Nouns. And in English language it is very important to know which kind of noun we use with Quantifiers. There are countable and uncountable nouns, also there some Quantifiers which are used only with countable nouns, some Quantifiers which are used only with uncountable nouns and there are some Quantifiers which are used with both of them.

For example:

                       A great number of my buttons are red.

                      (Quantifier “a great number” with countable)

 

                     I can't work here. There's too much noise.

                     (Quantifier “too much” with uncountable noun)

 

 

    There is some milk in the bottle. (uncount. noun)

    I bought some books yesterday. (count. noun)

    (Quantifier “some” with countable and uncountable noun)

 

• Quantifiers are used in literature a lot. I found out examples with Quantifiers from the works of American and English writers.

 

   William F. Buckley, JR. “Up from Misery”

 

   “Then in the spring of 1972 his gentle devoted wife had a mastectomy, the     prognosis optimistic, but with a shade of uncertainty, so, to beef up his morale, he increased the dosage just a little”.

(“Mind speaks to Mind”, Dean Curry, Washington, 1988, p.7)

 

 

   Arthur Conan Doyle, “The lost world. The stories about Sherlock Holmes”

 

    “To Sherlock Holmes she was always the woman. He never told about her in any other words. Sherlock Holmes didn’t feel any love for Irene Adler”.

(“The lost world. The stories about Sherlock Holmes “Arthur Conan Doyle, Moscow, 2002)

 

      Andrew Carnegie, “How I served my apprenticeship”.

   

  “The first serious lesson of my life came to me one day when he had taken in the last of his work to the merchant, and returned to our little home greatly distressed because there was no more work for him to do”.

(“Mind speaks to Mind”, Dean Curry, Washington, 1988, p.13)

 

• As I know Russian language as my official one, I decided to make a comparative analysis of Quantifiers with English Language as the language which I’ve been learning for many years.

 

In English language it is very important to use Quantifiers correctly with countable and uncountable nouns. But in Russian language there is no importance of using Quantifiers with countable or uncountable nouns.

 

For example:

How much money do you have?

Сколько денег у тебя есть?

 

Quantifier “How much” we use only with uncountable nouns such as a money, milk, noisy, etc.

In Russian language Quantifier “Сколько” is use with all the types of noun.

 

But in some cases we don’t translate Quantifiers.

There is some milk in the bottle.

В бутылке есть несколько молока (incorrect)

В бутылке есть молоко.

And in Russian language it is very important to know the cases and

to use correctly with Quantifiers. Because cases are something that is probably the most complicated concept in Russian language to the student that speaks only English. Old English had cases, but in contemporary English language you can notice cases mostly in personal pronouns. The question about category of case in English for nowadays has discussion character. It depends on approach which author uses in this problem; to English language was given different numbers of cases. Understanding of case as combination of preposition with noun in initial form; it is supposed that there are four cases in English language: nominative, genitive (possessive), dative and accusative. But fundamentally, this version of the problem of case was represented in wrong way, so far as case is word form, which has corresponding to case morpheme, as –’s in English. So we can note from typological characteristics of case category of noun that all nouns in English are divided into two classes: words denote unanimated things, which have not the category of case; and words that denote animated things and time, which have two cases- nominative and possessive. If we recognize this point of view, it will correspond to the modern system of case; it means that in fact there is no category of case. In that moment we have new grammatical category called genitive category, which represented by morpheme -’s. But mostly we have more similarities in using Quantifiers in English and in Russian languages.

 

• The novelty of the Course Paper is that it contains examples taken from different life situations, we use Quantifiers in Dialogues :

 

  It's Mum's birthday next week. Let's get her a present.

 OK. How about some perfume?

 Well, she doesn't have any. She doesn't use it.

 So how about some clothes or a watch?

That's a good idea, but I don't know her

Let's just buy a gift voucher. Then she can choose her own present.

Great idea!

 

       There are a lot of phrases with Quantifiers:

        Every child needs love.

       More than one of the student passed the exam .

              I’m sure that my Course Paper will be helpful for students of our Faculty to understand English Grammar and to speak English fluently and accurately.

 

5. Bibliography

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2.  Kaushanskaya “ English Grammar”;

 3. О. Jespersen. “A Modern English Grammar on Historical Principles”,

  London-Copenhagen, 1965;

4. Rayevska N.M. “Modern English Grammar”, Kiev, 1967;

5.  Sweet. H. A “New English Grammar”, Oxford, 1955;

6.  Sarah Cunningam, Peter Moor “Cutting Edge” : Work Book;

 7.  Блох. М. Я. “Теоретическая грамматика английского языка”, М., 1983;

8.  В. Н. Жигадло, И. П. Иванова, Л. Л. Иофик. “Современный английский язык”, М., 1956;

9.  Иванова, Л. Л. Иофик. “Современный английский язык”, М.— Л., 1956;

10.  Смирницкий.И. “Лексикология английского языка”, М., 1956;

11.  Ярцева. B. H. “Историческая морфология английского языка”, M.— Л., 1960;

12.  Ярцева В. H. “Исторический синтаксис английского языка”, М.— Л., 1961;

13.  www. answers.com/topic/agreement –linguistics work;