How to Express Amounts in English Basic English Grammar
oh hi everybody welcome back to our
weekly live stream my name is Alisha and
today we’re going to talk about how to
express amounts in this lesson I’m going
to review countable and uncountable
nouns and I’m going to talk about some
expressions you can use to describe how
much or how many of something you have
or you want or you need so we have a lot
of good stuff I think that is good for
beginners to review in this lesson but
I’m also going to cover some topics that
are more intermediate or advanced some
small points some small kind of nuances
that you can think about for your word
choice so I hope there’s something for
everyone in today’s lesson all right I
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fantastic so as you join say hi like
share all that jazz we’re going to talk
about amounts today amounts so during
today’s lesson please send me your
example sentences send them in the chat
and I will try to check them live and
but you know just to practice today’s
topics so I’m going to share the video
and then I’m going to begin today I’m
going to start by talking about
countable and uncountable nouns a little
grammar review to begin today and then
I’m going to talk about some expressions
you can use to describe large and small
amounts so alright video shared let us
begin let’s start over here first
countable and uncountable nouns this is
a key point for today’s lesson so I’m
going to slow down the speed at which I
am speaking so let’s begin with
countable nouns what is a countable noun
we can break this word down count and
able count and able plus noun means a
noun that we are able to count a noun
that we can count in other words so that
means nouns we can count with 1 2 3 etc
as in TC means
etc and so on and other things so a noun
remember a noun is a person place or
thing
yeah so nouns we can count with one two
and three when we make the plural form
meaning more than one one is singular
more than one is the plural form when we
make the plural form of a countable noun
we have one basic way in speech we add
an S sound so like book becomes books we
have that s sound but when we’re
spelling in writing we have a couple of
different endings for countable nouns
these change depending on the spelling
the ending of the original now so I’m
not going to talk about the spelling
rule here today but just keep in mind
that there are different ways to spell
the plural forms of these so we add
either S or ES or IES IES if the
original noun ends in Y as it does here
so basically a countable noun takes an S
sound to get the plural form so book
becomes books kiss becomes kisses candy
becomes candies and so on so we add an S
to make a countable noun plural so to
describe more than one of accountable
now so a couple points then there are
irregular irregular countable nouns so
irregular means not regular ear is a
prefix which means not or no so regular
means like normal or typical so not
regular irregular these are a few
examples of irregular countable nouns
which means they do not follow this s
rule for example one child two children
so child becomes children in the plural
form three children four children one
person two people in these cases and
with a few animals there’s no change
between the countable or the sorry the
singular and the plural form so like
sheep becomes Shi
like one sheep two sheep mouse becomes
mice as well
so there are a few things there are few
nouns that have like these kind of
strange plural forms please keep this in
mind for today I’m going to focus mostly
on just these regular countable nouns
that take NS if you have any questions I
will try to check in real time you can
ask questions thanks Leah yes okay let’s
continue then so this is countable nouns
for today’s lesson everything at the top
of the board refers to countable nouns
I’ve split today’s whiteboard into two
parts so up upper part the top is
countable nouns the bottom then on the
other hand let’s talk about the second
part here uncountable nouns so we talked
about countable we broke down countable
so things we can count nouns we can
count here unhhhh uncountable
so the prefix on means like not again
it’s a negative thing
so not countable nouns nouns we cannot
count with one two three etc so when we
want to couch these nouns when we want
to talk about units we use counter words
so for example these are some very
common uncountable nouns so money time
water air so we don’t say like one money
too many three money we use what’s
called a counter word so for example
with money in like US dollars a dollar
is countable cents is countable one
dollar two dollars we use smaller units
inside that category inside that now to
talk about the smaller pieces of that
same thing with like time so we don’t
say one time two time or something like
that well in separate situations we talk
about time in units like minutes hours
days years those things are countable
time as a concept is not
so this is a key difference uncountable
nouns and countable nouns for today o ki
dokie that is the introduction for
today’s lesson I don’t see any questions
from you so I’m going to take one short
break and then we’re going to get into
the main part of today’s lesson the the
main focus so one quick break and then
we’ll continue on so I showed you a
couple of these things earlier in
today’s lesson I showed you the yeah I
showed you a couple of these earlier
these are the free PDFs vocabulary and
phrases pression z' and so on you can
find these from below the video if you
are watching on youtube or above the
video if you are watching on facebook
there are different topics that you can
download this one for pets this one is
about like dog and cat breeds so you can
talk about your pet this one is the
travel one some expressions if you’re
going to be traveling sometime soon this
says USA but you can use these in any
english-speaking country really so check
this one out others food and restaurants
a very popular topic with you usually so
you can check these out you can download
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please check YouTube Facebook okey dokey
okay some questions I don’t see
questions
bori on facebook says is salad and
uncountable now know we can count salads
one salad - salad three salads yeah
that’s fine okay let’s continue to part
two today’s lesson we’re going to talk
in part two about small amount small
amounts here so if you’re just joining
today’s topic is expressing amounts and
we’re going to cover phrases expressions
you can use now to talk about small
amounts and
large amounts some review some new
things in here
I hope so as you join please don’t
forget to like and share the video if
you haven’t already alright onward small
amounts let us discuss small amounts so
when you want to talk about not a lot of
something I’m going to cover a couple of
expressions for countable nouns and
uncountable nouns please note this is
not everything that we use this is just
an introduction I think to some very
common expressions first let’s talk
about countable nouns expressions you
can use with countable nouns first a few
a few and few so I want to talk about
these first let’s look at some example
sentences a few and few are very similar
but there’s a key difference in terms of
nuance there’s a feeling a small feeling
difference here so a few for example the
company bought a few laptops the company
bought a few laptops so a few refers to
a small amount you may know like a
couple a couple or a couple up I’m gonna
talk about here which is usually like to
imagine like people like a couple refers
to two people a few in my mind is like
three four so more than a couple but for
here the company bought a few laptops
this has like a neutral feel it’s like a
report yeah the company bought a few
laptops this sentence however uses few
the company bought few laptops the
company bought few laptops so the
difference here is just the article yeah
so a few versus few the difference here
is that this sentence with no article
has the feeling of a negative result it
has the feeling that like someone is
disappointed or unhappy or this is not a
good thing like the company bought few
laptops we needed a lot so it’s kind of
like using no article he
gives that like unhappy feeling if you
want to just make a simple report use a
few of you hmm
so please make sure to consider this
when you are choosing between a few and
few with your countable nouns the same
thing is true with an uncountable noun
expression I will talk about later okay
uh let’s continue to the next one so I
just described a couple so when you use
a couple think of a couple as like two
of something so a couple of you may hear
as well some people drop off like I need
a couple chairs or I need a couple of
chairs you can use both of those things
actually it’s kind of up to you so a
couple of something usually refers to
like two of something second a second a
third a handful of a handful of so a
handful hand full so this maybe you can
guess the meaning of this word if we
break this down hand and full yeah so
hand literally actually meaning a hand
full the spelling is different but it
means like something to fill up your
hand
so a handful of something you can
imagine how much you can pick up a
handful means like not a like a large
amount of something but not quite just a
couple or a few a handful so maybe like
five or six of something so a handful of
again some people drop this of in speech
like I picked up a handful of cookies in
the kitchen so you can choose to include
this or not I would I would include a
handful I would use of in that sentence
like I need a handful of something so
this is a countable noun
related expressions I’m gonna continue
to this part in just a second first I
want to go to uncountable um
many of you are asking about like a lot
and stuff I’m going to talk about large
amounts in just a minute that’s part
three for today other questions I don’t
see yet okay so let’s talk now about
uncountable expressions as I discussed
or as I mentioned with a few and few for
countable nouns we have this same
feeling with a little and little for
uncountable nouns I just say count okay
we need to consider the same like
negative feeling with a little and
little here so again an example sentence
we have a little time we have a little
time this part right here again I’m
using the article a little time we have
a little time in this second one though
we have little time there’s no article
so again this sentence we have little
time sounds more negative it’s like it’s
a bad thing we have little time like but
we need more this sentence we have a
little time sounds like a neutral report
so please keep this in mind this is not
true in every situation but in many
cases this is the feeling you
communicate by including or omitting the
UH all right um
other examples what about a little bit
yes yes you can use a little bit I have
a tiny bit of which is yeah another
option you can use I chose tiny because
I thought you might not know tiny means
very very very very small tiny so and a
bit is like another word for piece a
tiny bit of you can absolutely use a
little bit of as well so a little bit of
time I have a little bit of money and so
on yes you can use those absolutely I
don’t see other questions so onward I’ve
included here then to a small counter
word of a small counter
so counter word if you remember at the
beginning of this lesson I explained
that we use counter words like dollars
or minutes or hours to talk about units
inside uncountable nouns so you can use
sometimes a counter word to talk about
part of and uncountable nouns so for
example like a small piece of something
or a small bit of something so you can
use some counter words to describe a
small like units inside and uncountable
now okay so this is the first part here
I want to go kind of to part two point
five then and then we’ll take one more
break I want to talk about this red box
here some and any I have some and any in
this space because we use some and any
with both countable and uncountable
nouns that means we can use them with
both doesn’t matter whether than that
which type of noun it is so let’s talk
about some first some we use in positive
statements slow so like I have some
markers for example or I have some time
we can use it with countable and
uncountable nouns we also use some in
requests and in offers so a request for
example is like will you please give me
some of something like will you please
give me some money
so we can use it to make a request and
we can also use it to make an offer so
like would you like some something like
would you like some cake
for example that’s an offer we use some
in these cases so positive statements
requests and offers any on the other
hand is used in negative statements
meaning I don’t have any of something or
we don’t need any of something again we
can use this with countable or
uncountable nouns we also use any in
information question so that means that
this isn’t we’re
not making a request and we’re not
making an offer
with any we’re asking for information
for example do we need any something or
do you want any something so this is
these are the key differences between
some and any but we can use them for
both countable and uncountable nouns
all righty okay I don’t see any
questions but if you want to know more
about these I have a video on the
English class 101 youtube channel the
talks about these topics actually all of
this is covered on the channel so we’ll
take one more break and then we’ll go to
the last part of today’s lesson I will
show you a few more things I have not
shown you yet
so in case you missed it last time I
showed you a few of these these are all
free PDFs that you can get from below
the link if you are watching on YouTube
or above the link if you are watching on
Facebook if you’re watching on Instagram
please check YouTube or Facebook these
are free PDFs you can download printout
keep on your phone to practice
vocabulary and expressions so I’ll put
them here so this is another one I don’t
think I showed this earlier about
cooking there are some expressions you
can use in your kitchen on the back this
one is a really good one maybe for
everybody who participates in our online
chats this is the talking online one and
a conversation guide on the back to some
useful vocabulary where it’s here for
those of you who are interested in music
yes this says singing I know but on the
back it’s actually expressions to talk
about music it’s hard to see here I know
but you can check these and choose which
ones you want to download you can find
the link above or below the video
depending on where you are watching o ki
dokie
s Laniakea says couple of for both and
more do you mean for both countable and
uncountable nouns we use a couple of for
countable nouns we don’t use it for
uncountable nouns so I can’t say like a
couple of money I can’t say that I hope
that’s your question okay
Edgard has a good example sentence
Alicia is showing us some PDFs yes some
some is correct there so some also some
is kind of vague like some there’s not a
specific amount with some it’s just kind
of a vaguely small amount not a lot not
a little it’s just some hmm where is the
paper download link on Facebook if
you’re watching on Facebook look at the
link above this video on the main feed
or if you have the video big it should
be above the chat above the chat so
please have a look all righty
let’s go to the last part the last part
of today’s video is about large amounts
large amounts so we talked about small
amounts let’s cover large amounts then
and again countable on top uncountable
at the bottom this big box however I’ve
put here to mean you can use these for
both countable and uncountable nouns so
if you get stuck if you don’t know which
one to use you can choose one of these
alright let’s talk about countable nouns
first a large number of something a
large number of countable nouns like she
has a large number of pets maybe I don’t
know I don’t know what a large number of
pets would be like more than six anyway
a large number of countable nouns so
don’t forget your s sound at the end of
this word many students forget that
another one you can use is several
several so this one like it sounds like
seven I know the beginning of this seven
it doesn’t mean seven exactly but it
means more than a couple or a few more
than some it’s it’s kind of again
another
word like to me it sounds like more than
some but if it’s helpful to you you can
think of it as like seven or eight of
something so if it’s it doesn’t mean
exactly seven but it might be helpful
for you to remember it is like seven ish
or more of something uh next is a huge
number of a huge number of so this is
more than a large number of huge means
very very very very very very big so
huge huge so a huge number of huge is
larger than large you’re just larger
than big so all of these it’s like a
scale so it’s like large may be big
large and big or about the same huge and
then like gigantic these are on the same
level kind of so you can choose the
adjective you want to use here to just
like more specifically describe the
number of some things but this is a key
point number four for countable nouns
we’ll talk about a mount for uncountable
nouns down here so let’s take a look now
at these in the box that we can use to
talk about both countable and
uncountable nouns these are great if you
get stuck we can use a lot of and lots
of for both countable and uncountable
nouns I know many of you do this we can
also use a ton of a ton of so again a
ton refers to a very very large number
of something a very large amount of
something so I could say like oh my gosh
a ton of people are watching on Facebook
oh my gosh just like two does so a ton
means a lot of something we could say a
bunch of or bunches of a bunch if it’s
helpful again another image you can
think of a bunch is a word that we use
when we talk about like flowers
sometimes so if you imagine you gather
up like a group one group of bouquet of
flowers we could call that a bunch of
flowers you can kind of use that as an
image then
- I have a bunch of something so it’s
not like you’re overflowing with like
the thing you’re talking about but you
have a good number so a bunch of or
bunches of bunches of you might hear
that - so bunches becomes plural here
and the last one that you can use for
both is plenty of plenty
okay let’s go to this last point here
then so uncountable noun
related expressions if your noun is
uncountable like time you can say a huge
amount of sorry a large amount of as I
talked about here or a huge amount of
again you can use as I said some other
adjectives in these places - in these
positions in the sentence I mean so this
again as I said when you’re talking
about uncountable nouns use amount so I
can’t say like a large number of time
that’s incorrect
number is used within with countable
nouns number is used with countable
nouns amount is used with uncountable
nouns so I also I cannot say a large
amount of markers for example so please
use number with countable nouns plenty
of time yes uh Marlene says what about
the expression an awful lot yeah yeah
yeah you can use an awful lot with both
I’ll put that here so an awful lot so
it’s like saying a lot again but we use
an awful lot an awful lot when maybe
like there’s some kind of surprise about
the number or about the amount mm so
yeah we have an awful lot of extra time
it’s like maybe something bad happened
or maybe something negative happened
we’re kind of surprised at this
situation could I pronounce plenty again
please
so I said plenty very clearly in
everyday speech we say plenty plenty
it sounds like PL e + NY plenty so I
have plenty of time
hmm other examples I’m looking for your
examples I don’t see any more on YouTube
on Facebook
everybody’s saying hello someone writes
lots of love yes that is a very common
expression lots of love like to end a
message to someone with the expression
lots of love
can I say like I have tons of problems
yes you absolutely you can problem is a
countable noun so you can use all of
these to describe that I have tons of
problems I have so many problems right
now so I’ve just used a very casual one
so many I have so many problems right
now not a good thing but on the other
hand you would use much much with an
uncountable noun like I have so much
time right now so that’s another point
when you’re talking about countable and
uncountable nouns make sure many is used
with countable nouns much is used with
uncountable nouns okay other example
sentences someone says there are plenty
of flowers in the garden yes indeed Hugo
says can I say I have tons of friends
yes you can congratulations you go with
your tons of friends okay someone
Aladdin on YouTube says I I got tons of
questions to ask so not gotta gotta
means got to or have to I’ve got is okay
or I have tons of questions to ask is
also okay
Elton says I need so not it’s me but or
you could say you need or I need a lot
of time to learn a foreign language
is it possible to use the word to says
Omar can you give me an example it’s
kind of an open question what do you
mean please share an example uh gyro
says what about saying several problems
I have several problems grammatically
correct yes dramatically correct but I
would say in that case like you’re
probably in a specific situation like in
a meeting like mmm you’re reviewing a
proposal or something like looking at
something a document you’re like hmm I
have several problems with this so that
means I have a group of problems with
this
so yes grammatically correct totally
fine um what about the expression whole
lot like I have a whole lot of things to
do today yeah
whole lot that’s from mateus on YouTube
a whole lot of things a whole lot of
things to do today yeah we can use that
I feel like we use that with countable
nouns more like in your example a whole
lot of things to do today we can use it
with like uncountable nouns as well I
have a whole lot of time as well that’s
fine a whole lot okay oh I guess I have
to stop look at me gonna try not being
late today okay someone says I have so
much problems is it correct
no I have so many problems so if you’re
not sure ask yourself is my noun problem
countable or uncountable if it’s
countable many I have so many problems
if it’s uncountable much I don’t have
much time or I have so much money okay
uh ah
now all these questions are coming hmm I
didn’t get the difference between a lot
a lot in a bunch these are all the same
thank you very much for the super chat
these are all we can use these all the
same that’s the point here tons of
sounds like more than a lot of and a
bunch of is kind of like a group of some
so you can watch this video back as well
so I hope that that helps you there are
so many questions coming now why are all
the questions coming now why didn’t you
send these questions to me earlier
next week send me your questions earlier
I have to finish so I’ll end today’s
lesson there thank you as always for
joining us this week next week I’m going
to talk about emotions describing
emotions describing feelings so it’s
going to be a lot of like adjectives
emotion related adjectives to talk about
what’s your feeling so please join us
again next week that will be February
13th Wednesday 9 p.m. Eastern Standard
Time that is New York City time please
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that that was helpful you can watch this
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finish there so thank you very much
enjoy your week have a nice weekend and
I will see you again next time okay