QUANTIFIERS & COMPARATIVES

• Engels
• Secundair onderwijs

COMPARATIVES & QUANTIFIERS

STRIKE 4 unit 1: whet your appetite 

M. Macours 

Uncountable nouns

--> only one form ~no plural or singular form 

--> you can't add 's' 

--> substances & concepts (mass nouns!)

--> they are considered as a whole 

--> verb: singular 

e.g. money, love, food, butter, fruit, bread, fat, knowledge, time, rice, tea, coffee

e.g. the tea tastes good 

Countable nouns

--> there is a singular and a plural form 

--> you can add 's' 

--> in singular: the noun has the article 'a', 'an' (= een)

--> verb: singular or plural 

e.g. dog (a dog, two dogs), banana, apple, carrot, , friend

!! singular: person --> plural: people !!

Uncountable nouns 

Uncountable nouns can be specified or measured. 

You can add a measure word (unit of measurement) --> This specifies the quantity of the noun. 

e.g. 

coffee = uncountable noun. (koffie) 

measure word: cup (kopje) 

--> a cup of coffee = een kopje koffie

a : quantity 

cup (of) : measure word 

coffee : uncountable noun 

a cup of coffee is countable ! one cup of coffee, two cups of coffee,....

Uncountable nouns

rice = uncountable noun (rijst) 

*een rijst 

measure word: grain (korrel)

a grain of rice = een rijstkorrel 

a = quantity

grain (of) = measure word 

rice = uncountable noun 

a grain of rice is countable! 

one grain of rice (1 rijstkorrel), two grains of rice (twee rijstkorrels)

Uncountable nouns 

water = uncountable noun 

measure word: e.g. bottle, glass 

a bottle of water 

a = quantity 

bottle (of) = measure word 

water = uncountable noun 

a bottle of water is countable! one bottle of water, two bottles of water, ...

one glass of water 

QUANTIFIERS 

Quantifiers indicate the amount or quantity of something 

Quantifiers duiden de hoeveelheid van iets aan 

e.g. 

There are a lot of apples in the basket = er zijn veel appels in de mand 

There are few apples in the basket = er zijn weinig appels in de mand

Uncountable nouns 

any 

some 

a lot of 

much

little 

less 

how much? 

Countable nouns 

any 

some 

a lot of 

many 

few 

fewer

How many? 

Quantifiers uncountable nouns

Much = veel 

• I didn't spend much money 
• the dish doesn't contain much fat 
• How much money did you spend? 

--> much is unusual in positive sentences

--> much is mostly used in questions & negative sentences 

--> BUT! so much, too much, as much as = common in positive sentences 

• we spent too much money 
• We had so much fun 

Quantifiers uncountable nouns

a lot of OR lots of = veel 

• We spent a lot of money 
• We had lots of fun 
• Does he have a lot of money? 

--> a lot of can be used with positive, negative sentences and with questions 

TIP: a lot of is always correct! (in case of doubt)

Quantifiers uncountable nouns

Little = weinig - not much

• Gary is very busy with his job. He has little time for other things ( = Gary heeft het druk met zijn werk. Hij heeft weinig tijd voor andere dingen). Little time = not as much time as he would like
• The cake contains little sugar and has little taste 

Quantifiers uncountable nouns 

Less = minder 

comparative of little 

• Gary has little time but John has even less time than Gary 
• The salad has little fat but the soup has less fat than the salad

Less than = minder dan 

Quantifiers uncountable nouns

Nowadays people eat too much salt. We should all eat way less salt. 

Quantifiers uncountable nouns

Little = weinig --> rather negative 

• Nowadays, Gary has little time to see his friends = Momenteel heeft Gary weinig tijd om zijn vrienden te zien

A little = een beetje --> positive! 

• We have a little time before the train leaves. Let's go get a coffee = We hebben een beetje tijd voor de trein vertrekt. Laten we een koffie halen. 

Quantifiers uncountable nouns

• The man spoke little English so it was difficult to communicate with him. 
• The man spoke a little English so we were able to communicate with him 
• Do you speak English? Yes, a little

 'a little bit' 

Quantifiers countable nouns 

Many = veel 

Quantifiers countable nouns

Few = weinig - not many

• Dirk's lucky. He has few problems = Dirk heeft weinig problemen
• Vicky doesn't like living in London. She has few friends there. = Vicky heeft weinig vrienden in Londen. 

A few = een paar - a small number

• Things are not going great for Jan. He has a few problems. = Jan heeft een paar problemen
• Claire has a few friends and they meet quite often = Claire heeft een paar vrienden waarmee ze regelmatig afspreekt 

Both "few" and "a few" can be either negative or positive 

Quantifiers countable nouns

fewer --> comparative of "few" 

few= weinig - fewer = minder 

DEGREES OF COMPARISON 

We use COMPARATIVE or SUPERLATIVE forms of adjectives or adverbs to compare people or things 

Jane runs faster than Charlotte = Jane loopt sneller dan Charlotte

but Kate runs the fastest of all students = Kate loopt het snelst van alle studenten

COMPARATIVE 

Jane runs faster than Charlotte 

COMPARATIVE 

COMPARATIVE 

COMPARATIVE 

SUPERLATIVE 

SUPERLATIVE 

SUPERLATIVE 

EXCEPTIONS DEGREES OF COMPARISON

POSITIVE 

COUNTABLE NOUNS 

UNCOUNTABLE NOUNS

BREAD 

HONEY

SPICE 

CHICKEN 

LEMON 

CAULIFLOWER

GARLIC

COUNTABLE NOUNS 

UNCOUNTABLE NOUNS

BREAD 

HONEY

SPICE 

CHICKEN 

LEMON 

CAULIFLOWER

GARLIC