Page 119 - English Vocabulary In Use upper intermediet and advance

5 7 Number, quantity, degree and intensity

Number and quantity
Number is used for countable nouns, amount for uncountables.

Scale of adjectives useful for expressing number and quantity: L

tiny small average large/considerable hugehast

Add just a tiny amount of chilli pepper, or else it may get too hot.
A considerable number of people failed to get tickets. [formal]
Vast amounts of money have been wasted on this project.
Were there many people at the airport? Oh, about average, I'd say. [fairly informal]
Muchlmany, a lot, lots, plenty, a goodlgreat deal
example comments
Is there much work to do? mostly used in questions and
No, not much. negatives with uncountable nouns
There are lots of nice shops in this street. mostly for affirmatives; has a
rather positive feeling; informal
Don't worry, there's plenty of time. mostly affirmatives, used in
positive contexts
You were making a lot of noise last night. used in all structures; neutral,
better than lots in negative contexts
There's a great deal of hard work still to do. + uncountables, more formal
Much and many do occur in affirmatives, but they sound formal and are probably best
kept for formal written contexts.
Much criticism has been levelled at the government's policy.
Many people are afraid of investing in stocks and shares.
Informal and colloquial words for numberlquantity

I've got dozens of nails in my tool-box. Why buy more? [especially good for countables]
There's heaps/bags/loads of time yet, slow down! [countable or uncountable and
informal]
There was absolutely tons of food at the party; far too much. [especially good for
things, not so good for abstract nouns]
There are tons of apples on this tree this year; last year there were hardly any. [note
how the verb here is plural because of 'apples', but singular in the example before with
'food' - number depends on the noun following, not on tons/lots/loads]
Just a drop of wine for me, please. [tiny amount of any liquid]

Degree and intensity
Typical collocations of adverbs: a bit/quite/rather/fairly/very/really/awfully/extremely
combine with 'scale' adjectives such as tired, worried, weak, hot.
Totally/absolutely/completely/utterly combine with 'limit' adjectives such as ruined,
exhausted, destroyed, wrong.

114 English Vocabulary in Use