Much, many, a lot of, (a) little, (a) few

Use:

1. We use much and (a) little with uncountable nouns and plural countable nouns.

a lot of milk a lot of cars

lots of rice lots of books

plenty of wine plenty of jobs

Note: a lot / lots = a great quantify or number; plenty = more than enough.

2. Much, many, a lot (of)

We use much and many mostly in questions and in negative sentences.

How much milk have you got We haven’t got much milk.

Has he got many books? He hasn’t got many books.

In affirmative sentences, we normally use a lot (of), lots (of) and plenty (of), not much and many.

We’ve got a lot of milk. (Not: We’ve got much milk).

There’s lots of rice left. (Not: There’s much rice left).

He’s got plenty of books. (Not: He’s got many books).

But we often use much and many in affirmative sentences after too, as, so and very.

We’ve got far too much milk.

Take as much milk as you want.

I’ve got so many jobs to do today.

We enjoyed the party very much.

(A) little, (a) few

3. A little and a few are positive ideas. A little means ‘a small amount, but some’; a few means ‘a small number, but some’.

• There’s still a little work to do before we go home. (= a small amount of work, but some work).

• The exam was extremely difficult, but a few students passed it. (= a small number of students, but some students).

Little and few without a, are more negative ideas. Little means ‘not much’ or ‘almost no’; few means ‘not many’ or ‘almost no’.

• There’s little work to do/ We’ve already finished most of it. (= almost no work)

• The exam was extremely difficult and few students passed it. (= almost no students)

Little and few (without a) are rather formal. In everyday speech, it is more common to use not much, not many, only a little, only a few, or hardly any (= almost no).

• There isn’t much time left.

• Hardly any students passed the exam.

But very little and very few are quite common in everyday speech.

• I’ve got very little money.

• Very few people went to the football match.

Exercise 1

Complete the sentences using much, many, a lot (of), a little or few . Sometimes more than one answer is possible.

Examples:

• There are so many jobs to do today and we haven’t got much / a lot of time.

• There were only a few people in the cinema.

1. I know ____ people in London, but not, many.

2. We’ve got ____ coffee left, but not much.

3. He earns ____ money in his job.

4. She’s got _____ classical musical records.

5. We had ______ wine with our meal, but not very much.

6. Have we got _____ potatoes left?

7. How _____ money did you spend on holiday?

8. I didn’t enjoy the party on Saturday very _____. There were far too ____ people there, and there wasn’t _____ food or drink, so everybody was hungry and thirsty.

Exercise 2

Choose the correct answer.

Example:

I’ve got a little / little money, so I could lend you some if you want.

1. I’m sorry, but I’ve got very a little / little money at the moment. I’m afraid I can’t lend you any.

2. He has very a few / few friends and he gets rather lonely.

3. She gas a few / few friends in London and she’s very happy there.

4. It is an extremely poor country: it has a few / few natural resources and a little / little good agricultural land.

5. Would you like a little / little more wine? There’s still a little / little left in the bottle.

6. It won’t take long to drive into town. There’s very a little / little traffic on the road at this time of the day.

7. I think Peter went out few / a few minutes ago.

8. It’s a very boring little town; there’s very a little / little to do there.

Exercise 3

Complete these sentences with much, many and a lot(of).

Sometimes there are two possibilities.

Example:

There weren’t many people at the party I had seen before.

It cost me a lot of money to furnish this house.

1. We’ll have to hurry. We haven’t got … time.

2. Tom drinks … milk – one liter a day.

3. She is a very quiet person. She doesn’t say…

4. I put … salt in the soup. Perhaps too…

5. … People do not like flying.

6. The man was badly injured in the accident. He lost… blood.

7. It’s not a very lively town. There isn’t … to do.

8. This car is expensive to run. It uses … petrol.

9. Don’t disturb me. I’ve got … work to do.

10. He’s got so … money, he doesn’t know what to do with it.

11. He always puts … salt on his food.

12. We didn’t take … photographs when we were on holiday.

Exercise 4

Complete these sentences with little / a little / few / a few

Examples: Hurry! We’ve got little time I last saw Tom a few days ago.

1. We didn’t have any money but Tom had … .

2. He doesn’t speak much English. Only ____ words.

3. Nora’s father died ______ years ago.

4. ‘Would you like some more cake?’ ‘Yes, please, but only…’

5. This town isn’t very well known and there isn’t much to see, so ______ tourists come here.

6. I don’t think Jill would be s good teacher. She’s got … patience with children.

7. This is not the first almost the car has broken down. It has happened _______ times before.

8. The cinema was almost empty. There were very … people there.

9. There is a shortage of water because there has been very … rain recently.

Exercise 5

Put much, many, or a lot of into each gap.

1. Have you got _________ homework?

2. We don’t need _______ eggs.

3. There are _________ dirty plates in the sink.

4. There is __________ unemployment in my town.

5. Are there _________ unemployed people in your country?

Exercise 6

Translate into English.

1. Ти підеш з нами в кіно? Так. У мене багато часу.

2. У Києві є багато інститутів.

3. У чайнику багато кофе.

4. Багато інженерів нашого офісу вивчають англійську мову.

5. Цього ранку на столі було багато телексів.

6. Хоча у Миколи дуже мало часу сьогодні, але він зайде до тебе.

7. Наші студенти витрачають велику кількість часу на навчання.

8. Мій син мало читає англійською.

9. У чайнику мало води.

10. Наш коледж оснащений багатьма комп’ютерами.

11. У вашій групі навчається багато студентів? – Ні, мало. Всього 16 чоловік.