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Study Resource: Quantity words for describing nouns in English

By: Isabel McKay

The tables below provide quantity words that can be used with mass nouns vs. count nouns.

Quantity words for all nouns
Quantity word
Count noun
Mass noun

a lot of

a lot of (the) people

a lot of (the) rice

all (of the)

all (of the) people

all (of the) rice

most (of the)

most (of the) people

most (of the) rice

half/a quarter… (of) the

half (of) the people

half (of) the rice

some (of the)

some (of the) people

some (of the) rice

plenty of (the)

plenty of (the) people

plenty of (the) rice

more (of the)

more (of the) people

more (of the) rice

no

no people

no rice

none (of the)

none of the people

none of the rice

any (of the)

any (of the) people

any (of the) rice

enough (of the)

enough (of the) people

enough (of the) rice

Quantity words for only count nouns
Quantity word
Count noun
Mass noun

every1

every person*

every rice

each (of the)1

each person*
each of the people

each rice
each of the rice

several (of the)

several (of the) people

several (of the) rice

a (large/small/sufficient…) number of (the)2

a large number of (the) people

a large number of (the) rice

a few (of the)

a few (of the) people

a few (of the) rice

few / fewer (of the)

few (of the) people

few (of the) rice

many (of the)

many (of the) people

many (of the) rice

either / neither (of the)

either person
either of the people

either rice
either of the rice

both (of the)

both (of the) people

both (of the) rice

indefinite article (a/an)1

a person

a rice

one1

one person

one rice

plural numbers (zero, two, 100...)

zero people, two people, 100 people

zero rice, two rice, 100 rice

another (of the)1

another person
another of the people

another rice
another of the rice

Quantity words for only mass nouns
Quantity word
Count noun
Mass noun

a little (of the)

a little (of the) people

a little (of the) rice

a (large/small/sufficient…) amount of (the)2

a small amount of (the) people

a small amount of (the) rice

less (of the)

less (of the) people

less (of the) rice

much (of the)

much (of the) people

much (of the) rice

a great deal of (the)

a great deal of (the) people

a great deal of (the) rice

Notes:

1These quantity words follow some special rules:

  • When used directly before a count noun (as an adjective) the count noun will be singular.

  • When used before an of phrase (as an indefinite pronoun), the count noun will be plural.

  • When used as the subject or to describe the subject, the verb will be singular.

All other quantity words follow this pattern:

  • When used before a noun (as an adjective), the noun will be plural if it’s a count noun and singular if it’s a mass noun.

  • When used before an of phrase (as an indefinite pronoun), the noun after of will be plural if it’s a count noun and singular if it’s a mass noun.

  • When used as the subject or to describe the subject, the verb will be plural if the word describes or replaces a count noun, or singular if the word describes or replaces a mass noun.

2Notice that number is used with count nouns just like amount is used with mass nouns.

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