We use quantifiers when we want to give someone information about the number of something: how much or how many.
Sometimes we use a quantifierin the place of a determiner:
Most children start school at the age of five.
We ate some bread and butter.
We saw lots of birds.
Quantifiers with count and uncount nouns
We can use these quantifiers with both count and uncount nouns:
| all | some | more | a lot of | enough |
| no | any | most | lots of | less |
We have lots of time.
Joe has lots of friends.
I can’t go out. I’ve got no money.
There was a lot of food but no drinks.
some and any
We do not normally use the quantifier some in negative and interrogative sentences. We normally use any:
Do you have any children?
Did you see any friends?
We don’t have any children.
I didn’t see any friends.
We saw some lions at the zoo, but we didn’t see any tigers.
but we can use some for offers and requests:
Would you like some tea?
I want some apples, please.
Quantifiers with count nouns
Some quantifiers can be used only with count nouns:
| (not) many | each | either | (a) few |
| several | both | neither | fewer |
These more colloquial forms are used only with count nouns:
| a couple of | hundreds of | thousands of |
I’ll be back in a couple of minutes.
There were hundreds of people at the meeting.
Quantifiers with uncount nouns
Some quantifiers can be used only with uncount nouns:
| (not) much | a bit of | a little |
Would you like a little wine?
Could I have a bit of butter, please?
These quantifiers are used particularly with abstract nouns such as time, money and trouble:
| a great deal of | a good deal of |
It will probably cost a great deal of money.
He spent a good deal of time watching television.
both, either and neither
If we are talking about two people or things, we use the quantifiers both, either and neither:
| One supermarket | Two supermarkets | More than two supermarkets |
| The supermarket was closed. | Both the supermarkets were closed. | All the supermarkets were closed. |
| The supermarket wasn’t open. | Neither of the supermarkets was open. | None of the supermarkets were open. |
| I don’t think the supermarket was open. | I don’t think either of the supermarkets was open. | I don’t think any of the supermarkets were open. |
every and each
We use the quantifiers every and each with singular nouns to mean all:
There was a party in every street. (= There were parties in all the streets.)
Every shop was decorated with flowers. (= All the shops were decorated with flowers.)
Each child was given a prize. (= All the children were given a prize.)
There was a prize in each competition. (= There were prizes in all the competitions.)
We often use every to talk about times like days, weeks and years:
When we were children, we had holidays at our grandmother’s every year.
When we stayed at my grandmother’s house, we went to the beach every day.
We visit our daughter every Christmas.
We do not use a determiner with every and each:
Every shop was decorated with flowers. (NOT
The every shop)
Each child was given a prize. (NOTThe each child)
https://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/english-grammar-reference/quantifiers
In English, there are two grammatical terms, that forms part of a sentence which may or may not be meaningful. These are phrase and clause, wherein the phrase implies a set of words, that acts as a single unit but does not have a subject and predicate.
On the contrary, a clause is also a group of words, which contains a subject and a predicate. Now, let’s have a look at the examples given below, to understand the difference between phrase and clause in a better way:
- She lives in Gujarat, since 2012.
- I went to my home, after returning from the party, last night.
In the first sentence, in Gujarat is just a phrase, as it does not have a subject-verb pairing, while she lives in Gujarat is a clause, as it contains both subject and verb. In the next sentence, I went to my home, is a clause because it has a subject and a verb, whereas to my home and from the party, are the phrases, as it is just a group of words, not making any sense.
Definition of Phrase
A phrase refers to a combination of two or more words, that are related to one another and acts as a single unit, but does not contain a subject-verb pairing. It forms a part of a clause or sentence which is used to provide further information.
A phrase does not carry any meaning of its own, due to the absence of subject and verb, but it clarifies the context, of the sentence when added to a clause. There are six types of clauses:
- Noun Phrase: E.g. The lady at the store is my mother.
- Verb Phrase: E.g. She must be singing, at the interschool talent hunt.
- Adverbial Phrase: E.g. Anirudh told me the truth very honestly.
- Gerund Phrase: E.g. Vaanya and her friends enjoyed a lot, dancing at the party.
- Infinitive Phrase: E.g. Tarun likes to surprise others.
- Prepositional Phrase: E.g. You can find the food on the table.
In the above examples, you might have observed, there are nouns and verbs too, but in no case, the nouns act as the subject of the sentence, doing a predicate verb.
Definition of Clause
When in a set of words, there is a subject actively performing an action (verb), then that combination of words, is called as a clause. A clause can function as a sentence, which may or may not be a complete one.
There are two parts in a clause, i.e. a subject and a predicate. The predicate expresses something with respect to the subject. There are various types of clauses which are given as under:
- Adverbial clause: E.g. After the party was over, the band left for Mumbai, for the next concert.
- Adjective (relative) clause: E.g. The child, who gave you chocolate yesterday, is my niece.
- Independent (main) clause: E.g. Jane talks slowly, at the library.
- Dependent (subordinate) clause: E.g. I had food before I left for the office.
- Noun clause: E.g. I know what she is trying to hide.
Oh My English 